Twilight Beneath Perfection
by rewritten4u
Summary: Beneath the Perfection of us beautiful girls lies the secrets of Edward and Darcy...who says we don't have secrets either?
1. Chapter 1

**Beneath Perfection**

1640 etc.

_The night was dark. Pitch black. The streets were empty and the pieces of rotten food, withering trees and fallen leaves rustled in the gentle wind. All was peaceful. A lone figure moved about the steel bins; almost as if he were a homeless, scourging the bins for left over scraps carelessly thrown out by the rich and the not so rich. His dim shadow, lit by only one flickering street light moved rapidly with him; each movement swift and fast but could not be described as brash running. Instead, each movement was graceful, causing the black coat trailing behind to dance in the air; never touching the ground. The figure continued to move, a breath taking action as his movement danced from one side to another. If you had not been paying attention, it would seem that he had not moved at all. He approached a deep cave constructed of concrete; the smell of the sewer did not bother him. As the gate swung open, his shadow grew stronger; even without turning he knew. The dark street became luminous, practically glowing from the fire lit sticks behind him. He let a yowl of neither horror nor anger and fled, faster than a bat. Yelping in Latin, the creature danced just as gracefully down the streets, leaving the yells and cries of more than two dozen men behind him. The wind grew stronger; the whistling sound wrapped around him and the hunger took over. The sound of dozens of pounding feet grew softer and finally faded. The silence of the street interrupted only by one pair of feet moving much faster than the others. As the figure swiftly turned, his coat swung from one side to another, wisping around his face before falling slowly to his side and revelling his face. Thin and pale yet dark from lack of food and sleep; astonishingly beautiful. His eyes burned charcoal black and wild with emotions; he paused for a fraction of a second, then leapt forward, falling on the leader. His teeth sank in and the sound of pounding feet caught up to him. Without a thought, he grabbed onto whoever he could while they did the same. Within seconds, he was free. The ones who had been spared ran off with their lives as fast as they could, leaving the unlucky ones, bleeding in the street; their bodies left to rot. He hesitated, picked up one for dinner and rushed with the wind into the darkness of the night. _

_Back in the dark alley where the silence was restored; a man crawled slowly into a small space, a cellar and hid. Biting his lip to keep from screaming as the pain washed over him. The night light flickered on and off before eventually giving way, the street was once again eloped in darkness. In turn, darkness gave into light and the sunrise signalled a new beginning. _

**DIAMONDS ARE A GIRLS BEST FRIEND**

It was definitely not just me. Not me. Not me. Not me. NOT ME!

Shit, yeah I wasn't supposed to say that out loud. Great… now everyone was looking at me. Most were smirking earnestly, hoping that they would get a chance to see one of us fall from grace. Then they were the others ones; us. Those of us were staring at me.

"Uh, Chey, you ok?" Kiki sung cheerfully, pushing a perfect strand of glossy hair behind her hair.

"Sure, I'm ok," I replied, my voice went up about an octave with each word and the on looking tables snickered a little too loud. Kale shot them one single look through narrowed eyes and they immediately turned away quietly. I coughed loudly.

"I'm fine." I tried to keep my voice even and I guess it kind of worked because most of us turned back to their conversations. Only Kale, Cruz, Pearl and André were still staring at me. I stared back as innocently as I could. Then my gaze fell on Karm who was staring back intently. I quickly looked away and forced myself to concentrate on anything that would get rid of the pure horror on my face. Well that was one task I failed miserably at. Kale came and touched my arm lightly; automatically I got up with her, she took one arm and Pearl hooked her arm through the other; together we walked to class together. The classroom was empty when we walked in and I took my seat along side Kale and Pearl; both who swerved around in their chairs so they were all facing inwards; facing me. I gulped, knowing that I couldn't avoid them any longer.

"All right Chey," began Kale, always the straight forward one. "What's going on? You looked as white as a ghost."

"Yeah, and what was with the whole 'not me' thing?" Pearl asked, making small quotation marks in the air with her perfectly manicured nails.

"Ok, look it's just this strange feeling I got." I started but stopped suddenly as three girls walked in. All three were clad in what you may call 'casual' but the fact that they had spent hours putting together the outfit and primping was obvious. The Three cities. London, Paris and Chicago walked straight towards us with smirks on their not so pretty faces, foundation cracking around their lips and foreheads. I looked up coolly.

"May we help you?"

Paris stared back just as coolly but just as she was about to say something Chicago raised one hand swiftly to stop her.

"Just wanted to stop by and tell you how much I enjoyed your little performance; you are quite the attention seeker, Chey."

"Glad you enjoyed it, Chicago. Better than the slutty act you usually put on." I smiled innocently.

"Why you little…"

Chicago stepped forward, her eyes blazing with furry. I clenched, not sure what I was preparing for. It's not like she would hit me or anything.

"Problem ladies?"

A voice filled with more ice than an ice dispenser came from behind the Three Cities. I sighed and immediately unclenched, as did Pearl and Kale. Chicago, Paris and London turned around to reluctantly face Karm.

"Oh, hey Karm." Chicago's face turned up in a very huge, very fake smile; her voice bitter sweet.

"Didn't see you there. Wow, is that a new sweater, it looks great."

"Aw, thanks Chicago," replied Karm in the exact same tone and Chicago beamed shamelessly. "Is that a new hat? It's great; it hides your hideous hairline perfectly." Chicago's face fell dramatically before narrowing her eyes into small slits.

"Well you know what they say," London said, stepping forward. "Karma's a bitch."

At this stage, most of the class had drifted in and were watching the exchange with interest. Karm rolled her eyes.

"Mhmm… so original. Tell mummy to buy in a dictionary instead of last season's Prada three sizes too small."

The Three Cities sulked off angrily and Karm sat down in front of me, turning her chair to face me.

"God Karm, bitch much?" Pearl glanced swiftly in the general direction of Chicago and her posse.

"Whatever, she had it coming." Karm replied boredly as Cruz sauntered in casually and slung an arm around Kale.

"Nice fighting. Yeah ain't it all about 'Diamonds are a girl's best friend'?"

I looked around quietly at Karma, Pearl and Kale as class started. It was true, they were the Diamonds; we were the Diamonds and Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

Ok, well there weren't only four diamonds. There were others, a lot. Well maybe not that many, in fact it was quite exclusive. Yeah, I know, it sounds like a group of rich and beautiful girls forming their little cliché and an all exclusive club but that's not what the Diamonds are. Despite the name, we're not that rich and we're not that kind of group. Basically we're just a group of girls who go to the same school and sure it's pretty posh but whatever, anyways, they decided that the school needed some order; social order that is. The job has been passed down generation after generation and now it's our job. Diamonds are exactly what the name suggests, we're special and glamorous. You don't have to be rich or beautiful (although it helps…), you just have to have something special that will make people listen to you and follow your orders. I guess with morals like these to follow, it's hard not to sometimes accidently let your bitchy side take over. The truth is that bitchiness makes people afraid of you, it's the essence of power and it's what makes you a leader. Ironic isn't it? This quality is probably the reason why Karm is our leader, she's not afraid to be a bitch. I've only known her for two years and I definitely know why people are afraid of her. The less said the better; just stay on her good side and you'll be fine, more than fine. Karm's real name is Karma. How weird is that? Kind of suits her though, some say that the saying that Chicago used earlier, 'Karma's a bitch' was devised for Karm herself. I don't believe in that because those who know her know that she's not all bitch, just half. Ok maybe more than half.

The other Diamonds all have their special aspects which makes them a Diamond. Kale, whose real name is Kalinin is not rich but she sings like an angel, she's also very straight forward and isn't afraid of saying exactly what she wants. She's kind of the level head of the group. Very calm and hippy like. Pearl is very rich, very glamorous and she has all the right connections but that's not why she's a Diamond. The thing about Pearl is that she's kind of the mini Karm. Like if Karm was sick or something, Pearl would take over for her. Seriously, when Karm and Pearl first met I could literally hear Karm thinking 'should I kill her or befriend her?' I'm glad she went with friendship. And me? Well, I'm rich and I have the connections but the reason I'm a Diamond is (or so they keep telling me) because I'm so nice and smart. Honestly, I'm not that nice, just nicer than the others and I'm only 'smart' because I actually try. The others are all important too; they all have talents or qualities that are very helpful. The most important thing to me though, is that despite our reputation, we stick together. The past Diamonds are still all very close friends and that was the only thing that persuaded me to become a Diamond. Because truth is, Diamonds last forever.

**MEET THE BOYS**

I was on my way home when Pearl, Karm, Kiki and Kale came from all sides.

"Hey gorgeous, what's going on?" Kiki greeted me cheerfully and carefully at the same time. She was a new Diamond and was very hesitant when talking to us, the rest of the Diamonds somewhat used this to their advantage but I knew what it felt like.

"Hey Kiki, I'm good, how are you?" I replied while mentally planning my get away.

"I'm great!" She replied chirpily, flashing me a mega watt smile.

"So Chey, where are you heading?" Kale asked even though she knew perfectly I was going home.

"Just going home." There was no way I could escape now because from behind Karm I could see Cruz, André, James and two new guys behind them, nearing us fast. I sighed inwardly. Meet the boys. There was no, like, social ladder or something at our school; basically if you were a guy, hot, played sport… wait no, scratch that. It didn't matter if you didn't play sport (but it helped; it also helped if you were rich… duh) you just had to have a good bod which I guess goes under the heading of 'hot'. Also, if you were going out with a Diamond, you were golden. However, like the Diamonds there was a guy 'frat' as they liked to call it; and you thought guys didn't care about social aspects as much as girls… tut tut. They don't have a name like Diamonds because that would be gay but there is a group of guys who are pretty much the alpha males. Mentally, I like to refer to them as the A.M. Yeah I know, it's weird but it just happens. Cruz is probably the beta; he's going out with Kale which works because they're both so mellow. The other more quiet leader (the alpha alpha) is James, he's not that big on sports but is a great actor and even models (yeah you can imagine the shit he gets from guys but all the girls love him so they have to accept him. Besides, he's a nice guy). James is gorgeous and probably one of the few guys around here who is perfect. However, he's untouchable because ever since his face first graced the big screen, Karm has claimed him as hers and you don't want to mess with that. They fight constantly but always end up back together; personally, I have no idea how he does it. Still, weird as it is, that is one relationship I don't wanna see crumble. James is the only thing keeping Karm reigned in. André on the other hand is one of the smartest guys you'll ever meet, he's nice for the most part but lately he's been the most depressed guy you'll ever meet. This is on account of the fact that Ivy, not a diamond but I guess a 'precious stone' recently dumped him. She did it because he proposed. Uhm, yeah no jokes. At the age of 17, André thought that he had seen enough and was ready to throw everything away and settle down with his 16 year old girlfriend whom he had been going out with for a very short 3 months. Even worse, he still doesn't understand why she dumped him, he thinks it's because he didn't get a big enough ring. Hello… the bling on that ring was the size of an eye. Fine, so he's probably not the smartest guy you've ever met. In some aspects anyway. Since he's single, André has been hot meat. Girls swooped on him like vultures but as usual, the dude was too depressed to see anything.

Enough about those boys though, what I wanted to know was; who were those two new guys? It was pretty obvious every other girl was thinking the same thing, I could almost hear Kiki's mind screaming the question 'single??' Can't blame her, I was thinking the same thing. Karm was oblivious to the whole thing though since she had her back turned to them and her eyes burning my face with her questioning glare. Or so I thought she was oblivious. I really should know better.

"Hey boys, who's the newbies?" she called out just as they were right behind her. I rolled my eyes in spite of myself; typical Karm. Her eyes never left mine and yet somehow she had just known the boys were approaching. Ok, so they weren't as silent as mice but still! Cruz grabbed Kale from behind and spun her around, kissing her on her Snow White lips before letting her back down.

"Sup babe."

Karm threw a disgusted look at them just as James reached her side. He followed Kale's gaze and his face grew wary.

"Oh my god, OTT on the PDA!" She complained, watching Kale and Cruz play tongue hockey.

"I think you mean over the top with the msn language," James kissed her softly on the lips. I thought they were being a bit hypocritical considering their many displays of public affection when they first started going out. James straightened up and seemed to notice André and the two new guys standing there awkwardly. Well, André was going all teary again. I really felt like shaking him and telling him to get over it.

"Hey Kiki, hey Chey, hey Kale, hey Pearl; how's life?" James asked, yanking Cruz by the collar to disconnect him from Kale's face. I think it was a silent agreement amongst the guys to lay off the kissing in front of André.

"Fine…" we all echoed.

"Aw man, get a grip!" Cruz suddenly exploded, startling us all. He was glaring at André who was now… sniffling?

"What happened now?" Kale asked, exasperated. This was going no where. Pearl threw André and Cruz a murderous glance and turned brightly to the two strangers.

"Introduce us to your friends," she managed to make her suggestion sound like a threat. See? Exactly like Karm.

"This is Darcy and Edward," André muttered hopelessly, feebly lifting a hand and gesturing. This time even I groaned. What was with this guy? He made their names sound like the news report of a dead puppy. No, make that a puppy with no legs that had just lost it's mother. Plus, which one was which?

"I'm Darcy," one said laughing, "this is Edward."

There was a chorus of hellos, while Karm did the honours.

"I'm Karm, this is Kale, Kiki, Pearl" she gestured at each of us in turn then she paused significantly as she turned to me. "And this is the lovely Chey." I felt the red blush creep in. What was that for?

"Hi." I mumbled.

"So where are you from?" Karm asked cheerfully, ignoring my glare. The conversation swirled around me while I just stood there. I glanced at each of the boys in turn. Darcy was, from what I could tell, normal; athletic build, tan, light brown hair, deep chocolate eyes and a killer smile. I could see Kiki listening intently to his words. There was something about Edward though and I couldn't quite place it. His skin was very pale and his features very strong and sharp. He had hair that was almost black but the thing that caught me was his eyes. They were very light but somehow had flickers of what I could only describe as gold; they were piercing eyes and I felt that he could see through everyone. The black circles under his eyes seemed to indicate that he had not slept, well, ever, but we all know that's impossible; he was probably just tired. Needless to say, Edward was the most handsome thing I'd ever seen and I could see Pearl silently claiming him. Suddenly, he turned to me and I felt the full force of his eyes on me and I gasped. His gaze held mine for what seemed like forever; his face flickered with a dozen emotions, curiosity, wonder, amazement. If I hadn't have been under the effect of his paralysing eyes, I may have thought more of this rollercoaster ride of emotions that just happened. In the end he settled for curiosity and smiled cautiously at me.

"Hey, Chey right?"

I could only nod. His voice was like velvet; smooth and soft. The words seem to flow gracefully out of his mouth. How does that even happen?

"I saw you today, with a lot of other people like you… I mean new." I stuttered helplessly. Karm was staring at me, one perfectly shaped eyebrow raised. I took a deep breath like she'd taught me.

"I meant to say, I saw you today with a lot of other people who seemed to be new." I smiled uncertainly. Woo! A whole sentence. Edward smiled back.

"Yes, that was my family. We moved here together."

"Oh, is Darcy your brother?" I asked, puzzled; they looked nothing a like.

Edward laughed and it sounded like music.

"No, Darcy is just a friend," he replied. "A very close friend; our fathers were transferred together."

"Ah…" I nodded, that made sense.

"Besides," he said, the corners of his lip turning upwards, "we look nothing a like."

!!!!!!!!!!

See, that's what I said! We were so made for each other.

"So, uhm, where are you living?" I asked, grasping the words out of thin air.

"Oh just down George St, on the corner, the white one."

Wow.

"I know which one you mean, it's huge."

Edward laughed again.

"Well it was the only estate that was big enough to fit us all."

"There's one right next to my house that's smaller, well it's still big but you know."

"Oh I know. Darcy and his family snagged that one before we could."

Suddenly Darcy was next to Edward.

"Hey, guess we're neighbours!" he said enthusiastically though I'm not sure why.

"Yeah, I guess so." I replied, smiling as sincerely as I could. Then I had a light bulb.

"Hey, let's walk back together now." I said, glancing around to make sure no one heard me.

"Sure," replied Darcy. I turned to the rest of the group.

"Bye guys, Darcy and I are gonna walk home, see you tomorrow."

I turned to make a quick get away.

"No so fast, Chey," Karm called out.

DAMN!

I turned reluctantly.

"You have an appointment at my house at 7 tonight, be there." She said, narrowing her eyes. I pouted my lips; awww…

"But I have homework," I argued pathetically. Kiki scoffed.

"As if."

I sighed, realising I had no way out.

"Fine." I turned quickly on my heels and stalked off before I could promise anything else.

"Uhh Chey?" A voice called out from behind. I whirled around.

"What?" I shouted a little too loudly. The boys looked startled while the girls smirked knowingly.

"Aren't you gonna wait for Darcy?" James asked teasingly. I look around automatically; Darcy was deep in conversation with Edward. Both look utterly confused. Darcy looked at me in amusement then turned away from Edward.

"Sorry Chey. Just had to confirm something with Edward." He walked towards me.

"That's ok," I replied.

"Bye guys," I called out as Darcy and I headed home.

Over the chorus of goodbyes, I heard Karm's voice loud and clear.

"Be there at 7 Chey!"

That was a threat for sure.


	2. Chapter 2

**FAMILY REUNION **

Darcy and I walked in silence for a minute. I'm not sure what he was thinking about but I was deep in Zen mode over Karm's order/threat.

"So, just a question," Darcy said, suddenly looking over at me. Wow, he had great eyes too; very chocolately, very deep and meaningful. Unlike his friend Edward whose eyes could see everything, Darcy's eyes expressed everything. I could see every emotion in his eyes but mostly they were curious and still thoroughly amused.

"Is there anything uhh… anything _special_ about you?"

"What?" I replied, startled and utterly offended. Great, I had spoken like three sentences to this guy and already he thought I was retarded or something.

"Oh no, I didn't mean it that way," he spoke quickly, reading my expression. "It's just that… oh never mind, forget I said anything." He looked away from me, leaving me to stare at the back of his head in surprise. We walked in silence for a moment. God, I swear the walk home was not _this_ long.

"I'm surprised you walk home," Darcy said, his eyes on mine again.

"Oh yeah, well it's not that far away so there would be no point calling my driver."

"You're driver? Right of course."

I grimaced at his words. My driver?? My driver? What the hell was I thinking? Now I sounded like a spoilt brat. Suddenly, I was sick of this guy. Firstly, he thought I was retarded. Secondly, he thought I was a spoilt brat. Thirdly, he was close friends with Edward which was totally unfair because Edward was nice, unlike him; Darcy was definitely going to double cross Edward. Fourthly, the guy barely knew me and he was already judging me. Fifthly, it was incredibly unfair that a jerk like him got such good looks; I mean they were totally misleading. And sixthly… sixthly? Is there such a word? Oh well, I don't have a six reason anyways. But five reasons are plenty to hate a guy. So there, I hated him. I turned to glare at him but my expression turned to jelly the minute I stared into his chocolate eyes. I shook my head and spun away from him. You hate him, his looks are misleading. MISLEADING! I whipped my head around again to tell him exactly what I thought of him. Oh my god. He had one eye brow raised and his lips were curved upwards into a lopsided grin. Screw this. I loved him… Why was he staring at me weirdly anyways?

"Uhh, so Chey, we're here."

Oh crap. I forced myself to tear my eyes away from him and realised that yes indeed; we were standing in front of my house.

"Oh, sorry I was daydreaming." What I was daydreaming about, well no one needed to know that. "Guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah sure, see you around."

"Bye." I gave him a quick wave and started towards me house.

"Chey?" His quiet voice stopped me in my tracks and I spun to face him.

"Walk to school tomorrow? Together?"

Oh my god, together. Me and him. Me and Darcy. Darcy and Chey… forever.

"Chey? Is that ok?"

Girl, get a grip, I scowled myself.

"Sure," I replied smiling. "Meet you out front at 8?"

"Alright, see you then." Darcy waved at me then disappeared into his house. I opened the door and entered the empty house. There was a note telling me that my mum had gone out with some friends and dad was coming back from work late, so I could get Derek to make me some dinner. Right on queue, Chelsea, my maid or as I like to call her, 'my second mother' came to greet me.

"Chey sweetie you're home, how was school? Anything interesting?" She asked while she gave me a quick peck on the cheek and started bustling around the kitchen.

"School was fine, nothing really interesting." I grabbed a freshly baked cookie as I sat at the kitchen bench. "Oh, two new families moved into town. Have you heard?"

"Ah, yes." Chelsea turned to face me. "I went over on behalf of your mum and dad and you of course to welcome our new neighbours. There's a boy that's about your age and his parents were very nice. Well his mum was, I didn't meet his dad."

"So there are only three of them, in such a big house?" I asked incredulously.

Chelsea laughed.

"No, there's one maid, a butler and a cook who all live there too. Besides, there are only three of you living in this big house." I thought for a while. Yeah it was a big house and even though there were only my mum, dad, me, Chelsea and Derek the cook living here we still needed the rooms. After all, I had three older siblings who liked to visit without warning.

"Oh, David called. He has very exciting news." Chelsea said as if reading my mind.

"He did?" I squealed. Now, I hate to play favourites but if, oh I don't know… if I were for some bizarre reason forced to, I would choose David. Only narrowly though… of course.

"Thanks Chels," I gave her a hug, grabbed the phone (and some cookies) and bolted upstairs. I hit speed dial 1 and jumped on my bed, listening to the dialling tone eagerly.

"Aw, come on, pick up!" I mumbled into the phone.

"Hello?"

"Kim!! Hi! It's me Chey." I said to my brother's girlfriend.

"Sweetie! Hi! It's so good to hear from you. How are you?"

"I'm good thanks. Can I please talk to David?" I asked. As much as I love Kim, she can talk for hours and I really wanted to talk to David.

"Sure hon, let me get him." I heard muffled talking in the back before David picked up.

"Chey?"

"DAVID!!!!" I screeched into the phone. David's laugh echoed through the phone.

"Hey you, how's life in boring old Manhattan?"

I rolled my eyes. Only David could call Manhattan boring.

"It's fine but enough chit chat, what's the big news?" I asked impatiently. I knew David was grinning into the phone.

"Well, you know how I had that interview the other day? To join the Boston Law Firm?"

I nodded quickly before realising he couldn't see me.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I got a call today from the director and I got the job."

I screamed into the phone and started jumping up and down.

"YES! I knew you would get it, I knew it! Congrats David!!"

"Thanks Chey," David replied laughing. His voice sounded far away and I knew he was holding the phone away from his ear. I quietened down but I couldn't handle my enthusiasm.

"So does this mean you're moving up there?" I asked.

"Yeah, Kim and I are looking for a place up there." He replied.

I started another session of screaming. I hadn't seen David for months and him moving to Boston meant that he would be closer; it would only be a one to two hour drive. Through the phone, I could tell that David was shaking his head in amusement.

"So listen Chey, Kim and I are coming up this weekend to check out a few places and we'll probably stop by for the night. Tell mum and dad ok?"

"I will, I will! Oh my god David I'm so excited!!" I squealed. I was still jumping up and down.

"Yeah, me too Chey. I've got to go now, but take care ok? I'll see you on Saturday."

"OK! BYE!! Tell Kim I say bye! Love you!"

"Love you too, tell mum and dad I say hi."

"Promise. Bye!" I heard the click on the other line and put the phone down. Suddenly I had a major brain storm and snatched up the phone again. I hit speed dial 2. Beep beep…

"Helloww??"

"AMY!!!"

"Chey? Hey babe!" My older sister's voice rang with fake happiness and real impatience.

"Hi!" I cried back.

"To what do I owe this honour?" she asked.

"Why? Can't I just ring to chat?"

Amy snorted. "Yeah, whatever. Cut to the chase, I have a class soon."

I rolled my eyes; sure she had class. She was probably hooking up with some footballer.

"Fine, just wanted to ask if you could come down this weekend cause David and Kim are coming so we could have a family reunion thing." There was a pause on the other end.

"Do mum and dad know?" she asked tentatively.

"Uhm… yeah of course." I lied, hoping I sounded convincing.

Amy laughed.

"Your lying still sucks," she replied.

"Aw… fine but please come, they would be thrilled."

There was another pause as Amy deliberated.

"Please Amy…" I whimpered. Her groan echoed through the phone.

"Fine, god the things I do for you."

I giggled.

"THANKS!"

"I'm going to class now, bye."

"Bye Amy, see you Saturday!!" The phone was dead even before I finished my sentence. Two down, one to go. Oh god, Dylan was always the hardest.

I sighed and hit speed dial 3. I was utterly shocked when the phone was picked up on the first ring.

"Hello?" A thoroughly stoned voice answered. I rolled my eyes.

"Hi, can I please talk to Dylan?"

"Yeah, sure…"

"DYLAN IT'S FOR YOU DUDE."

I sighed dramatically and shook my head as I waited.

"Yeah dude, he's coming. Hey are you his younger sister?" Mr. Stoned guy asked.

"Uhm yeah." I replied, surprised. I was shocked that Dylan told people he had a family, let alone a sister.

"You single? Coz I remember seeing a photo and man, that ass! I hope you have your braces off now because …." Mr. Stoned guy asked, snorting loudly. I gagged.

"No sorry, I'm going out with Prince Williams. Now tell Dylan to get his ass on the phone or I'm telling mum and dad he's stoned." There was a thumping sound on the other end.

"Talk to me." A lazy voice came on.

"WHAT THE HELL DYLAN! Who the hell do you make friends with?" I yelled angrily.

"Chey, girl. Nice to hear from you as always."

I shook my head and pulled a face.

"Whatever, listen this Saturday there's a family reunion. Be there." I tried to hang up fast so he couldn't argue.

"No can do, besides what family?" God, this could not be the same guy who used to give me piggy backs.

"For Christ sakes Dylan, it wouldn't kill you to be a good brother for a second. What if I were dying?"

"Are you?"

"Maybe." I crossed one finger.

"Call me again when you're dead."

I groaned loudly into the phone.

"Could you pretend to be human for a minute?" I asked, knowing the answer perfectly well. "Please come, everyone is coming."

"Good, then you don't need me."

"Fine don't. But just so you know, I've recorded this convo and I'm going to play it to mum. She'll be thrilled to hear your stoner friend hitting on her baby girl and that you don't think you have a family and…."

"Jesus Christ, fine. I'll come." Dylan sounded thoroughly pissed but I could deal with that.

"Aw… thank you big brother." I crowed into the phone. "It's good to know that you love me because I…" The phone went dead. I laughed to myself, I didn't care. I got my family reunion; screw it if Dylan was mad at me. Convincing mum and dad would hardly be a problem; mum was always complaining and mopping about missing them and dad would be more than happy to have a distraction from that. I flopped on my bed, satisfied that I had completed that near impossible task. I reluctantly got up and started my homework, it wasn't hard at all and I finished quickly. A light knock at the room startled me and I turned my music off.

"Come in!" I called.

Chelsea stuck her head in.

"Hey Chey, Derek wants to know what you want for dinner." I looked at the clock. Holy Shit! It was 6:45! Guess I got caught up.

"Oh, not thanks Chels," I quickly started to gather my stuff the sinking feeling returning. "I promised I would be at Karm's at 7."

"No problem," Chelsea replied. "I'll call Phillip for you."

"Thanks Chels!" I yelled as she left my room. I quickly pulled off my clothes from school and changed into something a little dressier. They were my friends and I knew they wouldn't judge, but wearing the same clothes from school would be pretty sad. I grabbed a purse and ran down the stairs. Quickly, I scribbled a note to my parents explaining where I was and when I would be back; just in case Chelsea went to bed before they got home. I yelled goodbye to Chels and Derek and shut the front door behind me.

**CONFESSION**

Phillip was waiting for me outside.

"Good evening Miss, which car would you care to take?" He greeted me slowly. I smiled politely. Phillip was new at this job so he didn't know how much I hated being called things like 'Miss, Madam etc.'

"Any will be fine thanks Phillip and you know you can call me Chey, everyone calls me that." Phillip put the car in drive and backed slowly out of the drive way. As we did a u-turn, I took a look around our neighbourhood. Out of no where, two figures walking up Darcy's drive way caught my attention. Edward was walking along side another male; he had pale skin that almost seemed to glint in the street lights, his eyes were as black as charcoal and he too looked like he hadn't sleep in the past few years. His blonde hair was almost white in comparison to Edward's jet black hair. This stranger was tall and lean but had a muscular built. We drove past them slowly and I felt the red creeping up across my face, I was frozen as the two model like faces turned towards the purr of the engine. Edward's lips curled into a small grin and he lifted one of his hands as a way of greeting. Luckily, they were soon out of view but the feeling that they were still staring and talking about me never left. Not even when we pulled into Karm's drive way and started the long way towards the house.

Karm's house looks like it belongs in the middle of England with tourists shuffling around and snapping photos. It's as big as a castle with delicate designs on the huge while pillars and double doors; as an indication of exactly how big it is, it's about the same size of our school. Maybe even bigger. Karm's dad is the richest guy in the whole wide world, no kidding; he co-invented Windows and used to be the 3rd richest guy under Bill Gates and the IKEA owner. However, recently, Karm's dad over stepped Bill Gates who retired and gave half of his share to him. So now Karm's dad owns ¾ of the company and has also gone on to invent a virtual reality video game which is set to earn him millions, even billions. The driveway was lit with fairy lights that twinkled like stars; along side the drive way are about a dozen security guards, each armed with a gun and a body like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Then as you reach the magnificent house, there's another four body guards who guard the front door. I stepped out of the car, waved Phillip goodbye and walked towards the guards. Luckily, I come over enough that they know me and are even friendly to me. Arthur or 'the boss' gave me a smile behind his sunglasses. I have never seen his eyes.

"Good evening Chey, Karm told us to expect you."

"Hey Arthur," I replied. I spread my arms wide like a starfish as one of other guards waved a metal stick all over me. I dropped my purse in a little box which went through a conveyer belt, another guard sat behind the belt staring at a little screen as my bag went through.

"How many today?" I asked, stretching my arms in front of me as they swabbed my Chloé sweater and tested for explosives.

"Only seven; lucky me." Arthur answered bitterly. I smiled; every time I visited, I liked to ask how many threats the family had gotten that day.

"Clear," one guard said to Arthur. Arthur turned to me.

"Password?" he asked warily. I giggled; Karm had told me the password today.

"Kitten Mittens," I whispered softly.

Arthur reached towards the door and waited while they ran his finger prints and iris. He then hit a few keys on a board and the doors creaked ever so slightly as they slowly swung open.

"Bye!" I called as I stepped carefully through the door frame and grabbed my purse.

"Which level Madame?" The doorman asked.

"Level three please." The doorman hit an elevator button and I stepped in. The elevator moved up and I felt my stomach drop, despite myself I laughed. The door opened to the third level (Karm's level) and I stepped out. I pressed my fingers against the screen outside her room/ apartment and the computer registered my prints and let me in. I walked through the metal detector and pressed another button.

"Hey Karm, it's me." I called into the speaker. There was a buzz and the door to her well, apartment opened and I stepped in. Karm, Kiki, Kale and Peal were all sprawled across Karm's gigantic bed.

"Hey guys," I said, flopping on her Chanel bean bag.

"Hey Chey,"

"CHEY!"

"Hii…."

"You're late."

I rolled my eyes at Karm's comment.

"Sorry, I had to go through airport security." I explained as I grabbed a handful of fat free (and butter free) popcorn. I was starving.

"God I know, it's so annoying." Karm complained stretching out.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah it's only to keep you alive babe," Kale waved it off dismissively. She thought Karm had it all and had no reason to complain, which I suppose is true.

"We're not here to bitch about _daddy's _security planning anyways," Pearl said examining her face in her compact mirror. "We're here to talk about why Chey has been acting like the stick she peed on just turned positive." She turned to Karm. "Can you turn on your mirror?"

"Do it yourself," Karm said lazily. Pearl reached to her left and hit a yellow button. The whole left wall suddenly started to move up like a screen, exposing the mirror that covered the whole side behind it. Kiki sniffled a gasp. She'd never seen it before but she covered her surprise well.

"So Chey, spill." Karm moved to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of champagne and five glasses. Kale eyed this with annoyance.

"Is that really necessary Karm?"

"Uh yeah, we're celebrating," she turned to me, "besides, we may have to get Chey drunk before she spills." Celebrating what? Karm handed out crystal cups filled half way, Kale was the only who passed. I was open to drinking as long as it was reasonable.

"Ok, so here's the story," I started, taking a sip, "it was at lunch as you guys know and I saw Edward with his whole family, well at least I think it was his whole family. They were all so beautiful but that's not what's got me." I paused and took another sip, all eyes on me. "What got me was the way they moved, really graceful and there's just something about them. It's weird but whenever I see one of them, I get shivers. Also, Alice I think? Well, the girl with short brown hair was in my class and I dropped my ruler and she had her hand ready to catch it before it even fell." I looked around, waiting for a reaction.

"You know," started Pearl thoughtfully, "I've had a strange feeling about them too, it's like they're not human or something. It's so queer." Well glad I wasn't the only one. Kiki and Kale looked unconvinced though.

"Less than human?" Kale asked sceptically.

More than human seemed to be the more correct term.

"Yeah I don't know bout that," Kiki said, "I've just notice that they're all so hot; even the girls." We all laughed but I was watching Karm expectantly.

"Well," started Karm and we all fell silent, "you have to admit, it's kind of strange how big their family is and do you realise they all look nothing alike? Except for being hot and all that but yeah, there is something about them that makes them the same somehow." Karm's eyes betrayed her feelings; she was just as puzzled as the rest of us. A strange silence came over us as we all thought about it quietly. I felt uncomfortable knowing that I had made Edward's family seem like weirdos already when I barely knew them.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter guys," I shifted and broke the silence. "We'll just watch out for them." They nodded in agreement, relief on their faces. A mischief smile slid onto Karm's face.

"Let's do something," she moved swiftly and grabbed her phone. "Let's do prank calls!" The rest of us burst out laughing. Prank calls were so sixth grade but at the moment I couldn't of thought of a better idea. We gathered around Karm as she quickly dialled a number and hit speaker.

"Yeah?" A familiar voice came on. I giggled, it was André; he sounded very depressed as usual.

"André," Karm crowed into the phone rolling her 'r' extra long. "It's me, Ivy." I had to shove a pillow in my face to stop from bursting out loud. The ironic thing was that she actually sounded like Ivy. Karm shushed us with her arm but she was grinning away as well.

"Ivy, oh my god." There was bustling around on the other end. "Hey, hey, how are you?"

"I'm good, André. Listen, I just called to tell you to get over me."

"Wha...what?" André stuttered into the phone.

"Listen André, I feel that same way about you. I'm having a hard time getting over you too." Yeah right, Ivy was last seen with her face glued to Josh, some A.M hockey player. "But we have to be strong."

"But Ivy," André's voice was pathetically hopeful. "If you feel the same way about me then we can get back together. If we plan quickly, we can have the wedding in December. A white wedding with snow, like you wanted." Aww… I was feeling sorry for this guy now.

"No, it's not right. You and me were not meant to be." Karm sung softly into the phone mimicking Ivy's every tone.

"It's you and I, Ivy, and why not?"

We burst out laughing; typical André.

"It's just not André, deal with it. In the mean time…" Karm's eyes glinted mischievously as she stared at us. "Maybe you should go out with Chey or Kiki." We both gasped out loud and glared at her.

"Chey or Kiki? I don't know Ivy, I only want you."

"Well I'm so sorry André but you can't have me. I'm sorry, the earlier you move on the better. Bye."

"Ivy wait…" Karm hung up. Kiki, Kale and Pearl burst out laughing and so did Karm but as I caught Karm's eye, I realised something. She had called André as a prank call sure, but the words she said were true. She had tried to help André realise that he was better than Ivy and had urged him to move on. We shared a smile and she shrugged in response.

"Ok who next?" Karm asked, turning to Pearl and Kiki. We all started to yell out names of people we knew, laughing and screaming. So that's how it went. Edward and his family was forgotten and we wasted the night away with prank calls to everyone we could think of. We laughed so hard that Arthur had to come in and shoo us out. Pearl, Kiki, Kale and I slipped out of the room leaving a still giggling Karm behind. It was hard to believe in that moment that people thought of us as the most powerful and fearful girls in Manhattan. That much I don't think I could ever believe.


	3. Chapter 3

**TRADITION**

I was awake at 5. I'm always awake at 5. I listened to the slow chirping of the birds awaking, I heard the very early wakers starting their cars and starting to work, I heard the police returning home after their nightshifts, I listened as my father woke up and headed to his office and I watched the sunrise signal the beginning of a new day. By the time my alarm sounded at 7, I was already wide awake and fully dressed, ready for school. I'm not a breakfast person that was for sure, just the smell of food made my stomach churn. After wasting as much time as possible applying a thin layer of makeup, brushing my teeth and packing my school bag it was… 7:20. God, that mean I had another 40 minutes before meeting Darcy. I sat in the kitchen and swirled around on a spinning chair before nearly throwing up phlegm; well, there was nothing else to throw up. I craned to see the clock; 7:23. You're kidding me. I walked over to the clock to check it was working. Yep, it was ticking away. This was ridiculous.

"Honey!" My mother entered the kitchen and was quickly handed a cup of coffee by Derek. She took a quick sip and sighed deeply.

"Derek, you're my saviour." She took a few more sips before turning to me.

"Cheyenne, I missed you last night," she said, looking at me sadly.

"Sorry mum, I went to Karm's, didn't you get my note?"

7:24. Oh my god…

"Yes sweetie I did but I still wish you had stayed home, we could've had a mother daughter night. You spend more time at Karma's then you do at home." Ok, that was a very false statement; I spent a lot of time at home but just not when she was home.

"Well, I'm yours for the weekend," I added brightly, blanching at the smell of whatever the hell that was Derek was cooking up for my mum. "Oh by the way, David and Kim, Dylan and Amy are all coming over for the weekend."

"They are?" My mums face automatically brightened. "My babies are all coming home! Oh what shall we have for dinner? Should we go out? But where to?" I left my mother to ponder these questions and slipped out quietly. It was only 7:26; I scowled, time was not on my side. I decided to just sit in front of my garden and enjoy the fresh morning air. I wrapped my cashmere scarf tightly around my neck and sat down slowly, pulling a book out of my bag to pass time.

"You sure are an early riser," a deep, husk voice startled me. I looked up and was once again blown away by the depth of those eyes which seemed to sparkle even more in the early rising sun.

"Oh, hi Darcy," I quickly stood up. "Sorry, I didn't even notice you." I stuffed my book back into my bag.

"So, shall we go?" I looked at him questioningly. His smile touched his delicate features.

"Sure, but it's only 7:45." Darcy held up his arm so I could see his watch. The time did indeed read a quarter to 8 on his Casino watch. I had brought the exact same one for David on-line last night as a congratulations present, therefore knew just how much it cost.

"Oh, why are you out here so early then?"

"I guess I'm an early bird too," he laughed, "well since we're so early, want to go out for breakfast?"

Ugh… breakfast.

"My treat," he added, reading my expression wrong.

"Oh, it's not that," I replied hurriedly, "I'm not a breakfast person."

"Ah, well then we may as well walk to school." We walked in awkward silence down the street for a while as my mind struggled to think of something to talk about.

"So, uhm, do you like it here so far?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's nice," Darcy replied. "The only bad thing would be the house, I've gotten lost about six times already."

"I can imagine. It took me about half an hour to find my bedroom the first night when we first moved here." I laughed.

"Chey!" Darcy and I both turned to face Kiki who was running towards us excitedly.

"Hey Kik," I replied as she stoped in front of us. I smiled as I took her in. Girl was really learning; she was dressed in a knitted grey dress which had been one of her millions of gifts from Karm; over the top she had casually slung an overcoat that was tinted gold. Her hair had been done up in a loose bun, leaving some light curls falling across her face. Her outfit was topped off with a cashmere scarf like mine and leggings with leg warmers and a cute pair of flats. It was all very cute and bubbly which suited her personality but at the same time flaunted her curves and made her look very sophisticated. Karm would be pleased.

"Oh, hey Darcy," she smiled politely at him but I didn't miss the questioning look she shot me.

"Hello Kiki," he replied. Kiki turned to me, her eyes still shining with enthusiasm.

"Chey, you'll never guess what happened last night after I got home from Karm's," she said. walking along side with us.

"What?" I asked, smiling apologetically at Darcy.

"Paul called and asked me out!" She squealed excitedly. "Can you believe it?" I froze in my tracks leaving Darcy and Kiki to spin around and stare at me in surprise.

"Chey, you alright?" Darcy asked, looking intently at me. I turned to face Kiki.

"What did you say?" I demanded.

"I said, yes, duh." Kiki replied with a worried look. "Why? Oh my god, do you like him or something?"

I stared back at her in absolute horror. "Oh Kik, what have you done?" I muttered, squeezing my eyes shut. Reluctantly I opened them again and faced Darcy; luckily we were nearly at school.

"Sorry, Darcy but I have to talk to Kiki, see you at lunch." I grabbed a protesting Kiki and whirled toward the gates leaving a bewildered Darcy behind.

"What's going on?" Kiki whinged while struggling against me. I shot her a look and she quietened down and followed me as we hurried through the school quad.

"Hey Chey, hey Kiki!" Two Diamonds called out to us as we whizzed past. We managed to get all the way to the end of the quad without being stoped despite the numerous people greeting us.

"Chey, Kiki!"

I groaned. It was Cruz so we had to stop. I whirled around, spinning Kiki with me to greet Cruz and James.

"Hey boys, listen we're in a rush but if you see Paul tell him to go home before I see his face and dent it," I spun around again and headed towards the clearing, ignoring Cruz's and James' calling. Finally we reached the clearing; both Kiki and I were puffing from the jog across the massive school.

"What's with you two?" Pearl stared at us, startled as we burst through the trees.

"I have no idea," cried Kiki, turning to me, "Chey what the hell is going on?"

I struggled to gasp air as all four stared at me.

"Paul asked Kiki out," I spat out. Pearl, Karm and Kale all rolled their eyes.

"Typical Paul," muttered Kale.

"She said yes," I added softly.

Pause.

"What?" Pearl exploded, staring at Kiki who was blushing now.

"What's the big deal? He's an alpha, I don't get it."

I collapsed near Kale who was simply staring intently at Kiki.

"Guys, relax," Karm said, shutting up Pearl. "If Kik wants to go out with Paul that's her choice, just don't say we didn't warn you." Silence fell between us, I desperately wanted to shake Kiki and tell her she was making the biggest mistake of her life but I knew Karm was right. All of us here had gone down the same path and it had been a painful experience but it was one that had taught us the same important lesson. Trust the Diamonds, they know all. Kiki was going to have to learn that lesson the same way we did; pain or no pain.

"Thank you," Kiki mumbled to Karm who shrugged. The warning bell went off but neither of us moved. The clearing was our place, where we met up before school each day and where our 'meetings' were held. It was no secret, everyone knew that's where we went each day but no one dared enter without an invite.

"Here guys, I have something for you," Pearl suddenly announced. She pulled four small boxes out of her Dolce bag and handed them out. "My mum saw these the other day and thought they were perfect so we got them engraved, what do you think? I slowly opened the box scrawled with an elegant _Tiffany _written on it and pulled back the delicate tissue paper to reveal a locket. It was studded with diamonds around the outside and the heart shaped cover merely read 'Cheyenne'.

"Open it," Pearl nudged as she pulled her own locket out from underneath her turtleneck sweater. I followed her orders and gently carved on the inside were the words 'Diamonds last longer than anything, even marriage." I laughed softly and traced the carefully indented words with my finger. When I looked up, Karm and Kale already had theirs on and Karm was helping Kiki fasten hers while Kale stared at it admiringly. Pearl caught my eye and moved towards me, slowly taking the locket from me and fastening it around my neck as I pulled my hair back. I slowly touched the cold locket against my lower neck.

"It's perfect," I whispered to Pearl, returning her smile.

"Do we settle for anything less?" she replied teasingly. I laughed and Pearl slipped back into her spot.

"Thanks, Pearl," Karm and Kiki chorused together.

"You're welcome," Pearl replied.

"Oh, which reminds me," Karm turned to Kiki with a mischievous grin. "We need to initiate you as a Diamond." Pearl, Kale and I squealed with happiness; this was always one of the funniest things. I still remember my initiation, probably one of the best days of my life. Kiki looked touched and ready to burst with happiness. The final bell went off and we all slowly got up. Karm carefully dusted the leaves off her Abercrombie coat as she stood up.

"Uh," she groaned "Double Methods, fun." She flashed us a dazzling smile and disappeared behind the trees. Kale and Pearl followed after her with quick air kisses. I turned to Kiki who I had Science with first period.

"Come on." I hooked arms with a still dazzled Kiki and we walked to class together. I leaned over to Kiki as we emerged back into the quad and lingering eyes of our fellow classmates.

"Better get use to it honey," I whispered into her ear, "you're a true Diamond now." Kiki smiled with pure bliss as we slipped into the class room and took our allocated seats across the room from each other. I pulled my laptop out and set it in front of me, waiting for it to boot up. The chair beside mine creaked and I looked up to see a stranger taking the seat next to me. I knew immediately that he was one of Edward's many siblings. He looked thoroughly uncomfortable and kept shifting from one side to another.

"Hi, I'm Chey," I said without thinking as he looked up at me. "Welcome to Easton."

"Thanks," he replied, smiling dazzlingly. "I'm Jasper, nice to meet you." He moved an outstretched hand towards me. I was startled. No one my age had offered to shake my hand before but I took it anyways. I realised that he was the guy I had seen last night with Edward, luckily it didn't seem like he recognised me.

"Nice to meet you too," I replied, "you must be Edward's brother." As soon as I said that, something clicked. He had to be Edward's brother but they were in the same year level, were they twins? Jasper looked surprised.

"Yes I am, you know my brother?" he asked.

"Oh not really, I just met him the other day," I replied. "Are you two twins?"

Jasper laughed. "No, we're both adopted. Actually we all are. Anyways, I'm a year older than he is, this is advanced Science."

Oh yeah, forgot about that one. It was a class for both year 11s and 12s.

"Oh!" I was shocked. Adopted… that explained a lot. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, I have the best parents I could ever hope for."

"Wow, that's nice," I replied. "So how many other siblings do you have?"

"I have four other siblings. Edward and Alice who are the same age as you plus Rosaline and Emmett both whom are a year older." Jasper spoke the same way Edward did; very fluently and he sounded very proper. Kind of like how people spoke in the 1800's or something.

"Wow, you're all very close in age," I wondered out loud.

"Yes we are," Jasper answered, "that is probably the way Esme and Carlisle wanted it, so we all have companions." I nodded, made sense. Mr. Barton entered the room at that moment and interrupted our conversation.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen," he said, speaking loudly over the hum of noise. "Quieten down now." The noise died down as everyone turned to look at him. "Before I begin today's class, I would like to welcome a new student at Easton," Mr Barton paused to check his laptop. "Mr. Jasper Hale." He looked around and spotted out Jasper, the one he didn't recognise. "I assure you will all go out of your efforts to make him welcome." Mr. Barton coughed loudly.

"Now, back to Science." The lesson drowned on and the only sound was the voice of Mr Barton and the tapping and tipping of the typing computers.

It wasn't long before gossip was passed on about the new family. Carlisle and Esme Cullen were a married couple who had adopted five children because Esme couldn't have kids. Rosaline and Jasper Hale were twins and had been adopted by Esme after her sister had died in an accident or something. The rest, Emmett, Alice and Edward Cullen were adopted by the couple together. Already, the school had dubbed them 'The Cullens' and all of them with their astounding looks had become an object of prey for the opposite sex. However, everyone was soon disappointed. They were all together apparently, Alice and Jasper as well as Rosaline and Emmett. This was really strange considering they were somewhat siblings but being adopted and all it seemed to be ok. So now that everyone knew only Edward was untaken, the girls were now focusing purely on him and his friend, Darcy, both who were single. (This fact was determined by Sienna, who very unsubtlety asked them if they were gay and is that why they had moved together. Both who, I might add, were very taken back, answered no and that they were both single.) As luck may have had it, I shared a lot of my classes with the Cullens and Darcy; in fact, I didn't have a single class without at least one of them in it. I realised this in the middle of Art when Alice and I were assigned as drawing partners.

"So uhm, do you wanna draw or pose first?" I asked her as we gathered our pencils and moved to a quiet corner. I was astonished by how graceful she was, even more so than Edward or Jasper.

"Could I please draw first?" Alice asked me shyly.

"Sure," I replied, smiling. "I'm all yours, direct me." She laughed and the sound was all silver.

"Ok, could you please sit near the window," I sat near the window, the sun shining brightly on my face. "And face the window, like you are thinking." I followed her orders and sat there thinking for the next hour. As boring as it sounds, my mind drifting first to the Cullen family, then to normal school work and then just as my locket caught the suns rays; the Diamonds and Kiki's initiation. I was so caught up that I was surprised when the bell rang.

"Oh, that was so fast," I said as I stretched my stiff body slowly.

"You were a very good model," Alice replied still just as shy.

I smiled. "Thanks."

Students were leaving the classroom now and chatter of lunch had started.

**CONFRONTATION**

Inconspicuously, Alice and I had walked together towards the student quad where everyone was milling around, greeting each other and getting lunch. I spotted the surprisingly empty shady area under a giant oak tree; our spot and started to head over when I noticed Alice. She was standing alone looking very scared and embarrassed; her eyes were scanning the area for, no doubt, her family to sit with.

"Hey Alice," I called. She looked at me in surprise.

"Why don't you come sit with me and my friends? I mean I would love to get to know you better and Edward is probably going to sit with us anyways." I suggested. Her face lit up hopefully.

"Sure," she smiled at me happily. We quickly made it through the canteen line; I was surprised to see that she didn't buy anything.

"Aren't you hungry?" I asked as I paid for my food.

"Oh, oops," she laughed sheepishly and grabbed a sandwich, basically the thing right in front of her. I decided not to question this; I didn't really know her well enough. We made our way to the oak tree and sat down; we were the first ones there. I began to wonder what the other Diamonds would think of me inviting Alice to sit with us, we didn't do it often but not many students transferred midway through the year either.

"Hey Chey," Ivy said, flopping down with her friend Lily, then her eyes suddenly narrowed. "Who are you?" she asked accusingly, staring at Alice.

"Oh, hi, I'm Alice," she said, stretching out her hand just as her boyfriend had. Ivy and Lily however, just stared at her hand in scorn and both laughed haughtily. Alice blushed and dropped her hand.

"Does_ Karma _know she's sitting here?" Lily asked me meaningfully.

"She's about to," I shot back as Karm and James neared us.

"Sup Chey," James greeted sitting down and pulling Karm down so she was somewhat on his lap. "Who's this?"

"This is Alice, she's Edward's sister," I introduced. "Alice, this is James."

"Nice to meet you," Alice mumbled looking at her untouched sandwich.

"Like wise," James answered, he was watching Karm's expression carefully just like me. Karm was somewhat glaring at me and Alice at the same time. I glared back, daring her to say something. She raised an eyebrow and her expression cleared.

"I'm Karm," she said to Alice, "nice to meet you." Alice and I both smiled at her and the tension cleared. Slowly everyone lingered to our spot and introduced themselves to Alice; with Karm's approval the introductions were a lot friendlier. Eventually, the whole Cullen family (minus Rosaline and Emmett, the seniors who sat with another bunch of seniors) drifted to sit with us. Jasper, though a senior, did come and sit with us. He took Alice's hand in such a swift motion and both seemed to have a conversation with their eyes. Satisfied that I hadn't started a conflict and that everyone was happy, I started to munch on my sandwich and listen to the conversations around me. Cruz, James, Jasper and Edward were all involved in an animated conversation about soccer vs. baseball; how exciting. This left Kale, Karm, Pearl, Alice and me to somewhat start a conversation.

"So Alice, do you like Easton?" Kale asked while she picked apart her sandwich.

"Yeah, it's a really nice school," Alice replied. I watched her reluctantly take a bite of her sandwich, chew really fast and swallow suddenly. I was surprised that Jasper was also somewhat watching her with a curious expression on her face.

"Hey, where's Kiki?" I asked suddenly, my eyes darting around the circle; she was no where to be seen.

"Paul's not here either," Pearl said darkly. I saw Karm's eyes narrow dangerously. Luckily, before anymore could be said, André, Paul and Kiki entered the quad. The sight of Kiki and Paul holding hands made me want to throw up. Cruz seemed to spot that as well.

"Paul's latest conquest…" he said, amused. Everyone's eyes were on them as they walked towards us.

"Hey guys!" Kiki called out gaily as she sat down with Paul. She then introduced herself to Alice and the two of them began talking about god knows what. I stared at Paul accusingly.

"Chey, is your goal to burn a hole through me?" He asked as he took a swig of soda, no doubt 50% vodka (at least).

"Don't give me that you asshole," I snapped. Everyone seemed to turn towards us and stop their own conversations.

"Aw, what have I done to upset you this time?" Paul asked innocently. I tensed and moved closer to him.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing," I said. Kiki opened her mouth to stop us but Paul leaned closer as well.

"What?" he said slowly. I simmered and took a deep breath, ready to let him have it.

"Whoa whoa whoa," James cut in quickly, putting his hands in between us and pushing Paul back. "Come on, no fighting, that's not a very good first impression." I glanced at the Cullens and Darcy who were staring at us and decided to let it go, for now anyways.

"Screw first impressions," Pearl spat suddenly just as I had moved back, "listen Pearson, I don't give a shit what you think you're doing but if you hurt Kiki, your balls are mine." James winced and pulled away.

"I give up," he muttered. Darcy let out a low, soft whistle. Paul, however, was used to these threats.

"Pearl sweetheart," he said, waggling his eyebrows at her sleazily, "you know, if you want my uh... _balls…_" A chorus of 'ohhhs' went up as Paul paused significantly. "…all you have to do is ask." Pearl continued to glare furiously at him.

"I know you want some Pearl," Paul continued, edged on by the idiotic . "After all, you've never had some before have you?" Ok, this had gone far enough, I stood up to defend Pearl as did Kale; most of the boys and even the girls who delighted in seeing a Diamond being humiliated were laughing loudly. James and Cruz had both jumped up too.

"Dude, that's enough," James said warningly, studying Pearl's expression.

"No, I'm not finished," Paul hollered loudly, eyes still on Pearl.

"Yeah, you tell her Paul!" Exclaimed some barely A.M who looked excited as hell. I shot him a look that could not be mistaken as anything but 'shut the fuck up'.

Luckily, he did.

"No man, you're finished." Cruz stated firmly, putting his arm around Paul's shoulder and pulling him back.

"You know what Pearl, you're pathetic," Paul continued, pushing Cruz off him and spitting the words at Pearl who sat frozen. No one knew what to do. "Cause it's not bad enough that you don't know who your father is. You're a slut just like your mum. A gold digger." Paul mouth suddenly snapped shut and I realised that it was because I had unconsciously slapped him across the face. He slowly turned to me and his eyes blazed with anger. Suddenly he raised one hand and then everything happened so fast. James and Cruz both tackled Paul to the ground and Kale, Karm and even Pearl were on their feet standing in front of me.

"Listen the fuck up Pearson," Karm's voice was as cold as ice as she stared down at Paul like he was a bug with the rest of the Diamonds. "You've messed with Kale, you've messed with Pearl, you've messed with Chey, you've even messed with me and god knows how many other girls. But that reign stops right now because you are not messing with Kiki. If you so much as think about her again…"Karm didn't bother to finish her threat, she didn't need to. Instead Karm hooked her arm through mine and Pearl's who hooked her arm through Kale's. We spun around to face Kiki who was staring at us through tears.

"Come on Kiki," I whispered. Her eyes darted from us to Paul who was still on the floor, then she stood up and hooked her arm through mine. Together we walked through the quad, ignoring the eyes of the entire school on us. No one spoke until we reached the opening and Kiki burst into tears. I wrapped both arms around her and let her tears flow onto my coat.

"I never knew… I…" Kiki hiccupped softly. I didn't know what to say, my heart was aching too much. I couldn't believe that this had happened again. As if experiencing this pain was not bad enough, now I had to watch one of my closest friends go through it too.

"Why would he do that?" Kiki whispered as she wiped tears from her eyes; mascara and all.

"He's trashed out of his head," Kale said furiously, digging through her simple black bag and emerging with tissues. See? Paul was so predictable.

"You think it's just the alcohol talking?" Kiki looked up hopefully from behind her tissues.

"Does it really matter?" I asked softly. It hurt me so much to see that already Kiki was trying to make excuses for Paul; she had fallen for him so fast.

"No," Karm decided sharply, speaking for the first time since the confrontation. She stepped through the small crack between Kiki and I; her face stilted with determination.

"It doesn't matter," her eyes bore into Kiki's face; it was enough to reduce her tears to small sniffles. "The good thing is that today Paul showed his true colours, you're lucky you got to see the true side of him before anything really bad happened. From now on, you're to stay far away from Paul, don't you dare talk to him again if you want to stay a Diamond." Her eyes suddenly narrowed dangerously. "Your initiation is soon and I for one, wouldn't risk it." Her message was clear as daylight. God, Karm was so insensitive but at the same time, I still wished for the power she had over people. I knew Kiki wouldn't dare go near Paul again and that was what we wanted. We stood silently for a moment until we heard muffled voices and footsteps nearing us. Karm bristled. Who the hell was that? James stepped through the leaves with André and Cruz in tow.

"Relax, we come in peace," James said, raising both hands above his head.

"About time," Kale shot at them, clearly still ruffled. Cruz was at her side so fast I didn't even see him move; as was James to Karm's side. André looked awkwardly between Kiki, Pearl and I trying to decide who needed a shoulder to cry on the most. Since Kiki had gone back to drowning herself in tears André moved quickly to her side and wrapped both arms around her, whispering softly. Whatever he was saying, it was working.

"Remind me to never mess with you girls." Cruz said softly.

"Valuable lesson learnt," muttered Pearl who had recovered surprisingly well, though her skin was still very pale.

"Yeah, though whether the Cullens and Darcy needed to see that performance on their first full day is debateable." James said warily. Shit. I had forgotten all about Darcy and the Cullens; yeah that really was a great first impression. The chiming of the bell went out extremely loud and I turned to glare at the big brass bell that was older than the school.

"Let's just stay here," I suggested hopefully, suppressing a groan after remembering I had Literature with Darcy who I would definitely have to explain the current events too. It seemed like everyone wanted to agree with me, it was a tempting prospect.

"You know, Ivy called me yesterday," André said suddenly, turning away from Kiki and facing the rest of us.

Uh-oh!

"You know what, we really shouldn't ditch," Kale said as she hastily freed herself from a surprised Cruz.

"Yeah, I have a test anyways," I agreed quickly, slowly backing away.

"Oh, I don't think so," André stopped us. "What's going on?"

"Nothing nothing," we all replied hurriedly, trying to get away. James was the only guy clued in which was always a given when you were Karm's boyfriend.

"Run," he mouthed to us behind Andrés back. Suppressing a smile we all garbled quick goodbyes and burst out of the opening laughing. The magic died the minute I saw the smirking faces on the other students glancing 'oh so obviously' at Kiki's pre crying face.

"Aw, babe let's fix you up," Kale hauled Kiki up to the ladies while the rest of us split off to class. I was late, and the only spare seat was next to Darcy (very surprisingly). Typical, only in my life could this stuff that only happened in books to create drama would happen to me. I sighed, plastered a smile on my face and walked over to him; racketing my brain for an explanation that wouldn't send him and the Cullens moving as far away as possible.

**A RIDE HOME**

"Chey," Darcy's soft voice reached me before I made it to my chair. Now let's make something clear. No one who has ever said my name before in such a way; it made me want to spill my life story, luckily I didn't.

"Darcy," I tried to reply in the same tone. Yeah, I failed miserably. He shifted nervously in his chair, trying to decide what to say.

"I know I'm new here, so I probably don't have a right to ask," he paused, looking thoughtful. "And you don't have to tell me, but …" He stopped and I waited. Then he shook his head. "Don't worry 'bout it, just want to know if you're ok, and Kiki and all the others."

"What?" I spat out in shock, forgetting to sound sophisticated and all that other stuff I wanted him to think of me. Darcy's curious and concerned gaze seemed like a deep dreamt fantasy to me. "Uhm yeah, I'm fine. We're all fine." I smiled slowly at him. "Thanks."

I turned to face the board, still wondering when it would be that he would start pumping me for information like he had started before. Please, it's obvious that guys like to be just as well informed on the gossip as girls. Mr Phillips told us that since it was last period and all we were required to start reading 'Romeo and Juliet'. Quietly, he added. I took a deep breathe and silently thanked the lords above for giving me the peace and quiet I needed to just think. I pulled my book out and started towards the far left back corner; the perfect spot. Far from the door, far from the desks, far from any distractions. I snuggled in, making myself as small as possible; almost as if trying to shrink into the corner. I flipped to the first page of the book and just stared at it.

"Interesting page you're on," a male voice drawled softly. Darcy slid next to me with a slight smile on his face. I looked down at the page I had turned to for the first time and realised all it said was 'Romeo and Juliet; Shakespeare'. I scowled at him.

"Well at least I'll know the title and the author," I replied as I flipped to the first page that was covered with words and decided to stare at that instead.

"You know I've never had much patience for Romeo," Darcy mused softly.

"Shhh…" I whispered. "I'm reading."

"Really? Who's talking in the book?"

"Romeo." Duh.

"Wrong, it's Juliet's cousin." Bullshit, it had to be Romeo. I knew it was a guy and what other guy but Romeo? I watched Darcy's long fingers skim the page until finally landing on the second sentence.

_Tybalt – Juliet's Cousin enters. _

Crap. I rolled my eyes and looked up to glare at him.

"It could have been Romeo," I muttered, flipping the unread page over. "How do you know this anyways?"

"I've read _Romeo and Juliet_ many times," Darcy stated, turning his pages too; about five pages at once while his eyes stayed on mine.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why not?" He asked right back. "Haven't you heard; it's a classic."

I smiled grimly; it's not like I'm an idiot or something. We 'read' silently for a while until I felt Darcy's lips on my hair. I also felt chills. Literally.

"Enjoying it so far?" He whispered into my hair, close to my ear. His voice was different to Edward's; it was nothing like velvet yet still flowed like water. Darcy's voice was much rougher, jaggered with emotions and very deep; he didn't speak like he lived in the 1800's either.

"I am actually," I answered while trying to control my voice and keep it cool. "I was utterly absorbed until _you _distracted me."

"Who on earth gets absorbed in _Romeo and Juliet_?" He was so close I could almost taste him. Except not really because that would be weird. But he was pretty close.

"Don't you like _Romeo and Juliet_?" I asked, surprised.

"It's not that I don't like it. I've just never really gotten it."

"Then why have you read it so many times?" I asked. He stared back and flickers of amusement lit up his eyes.

"It's standard English reading."

Huh, you don't say. I was about to tell him that still didn't exactly explain why he had read it so many times when he suddenly straightened up, flashed me a sheepish grin and became some what intent on reading.

"Ahem…"

I groaned inaudibly and looked up to find Mr Phillips staring down at me.

"Miss Crystele, it seems to me that you are not following the instructions given at the beginning. Let me repeat, it is _silent_ reading. As for breaking the rules and for distracting another student, I'm afraid I have no choice but to give you a blue slip." Groan, groan. Cause this was totally what I needed right now, a trip to the principal to 'explain myself'. I decided to try something Kale taught me.

"I'm ever so sorry Mr Phillips," I replied as innocently as I could. "I just can't seem to concentrate. My mind just can't help but drift towards something I saw a couple of weeks ago. It was this magazine in room B2, it had like pictures of women on it." A snicker went around the room and Mr Phillips started to turn red.

"The women were like wearing these strappy bikini things, and they were all extremely big breasted but like definitely fake. Know what I mean?" Mr Phillips was turning the colour of a tomato.

"Hey isn't B2 you're room?" I asked as if this had just occurred to me. The class erupted; through the corner of my eye I could see Darcy watching with a lopsided smile on his face. Mr Phillips was definitely a tomato now, a very very ripe tomato about to burst.

"Quieten down!" He barked at the rest of the class. "Miss Crystele, that's enough. Consider this a warning but that _won't_ happen again. Is that clear?"

"As clear as those bikinis the chicks on the magazine were wearing," I replied. I turned and got back to my book as the class erupted once more. I didn't even need to see Mr Phillips face but his shadow soon uncovered my face. Darcy was still peering at me strangely, his squared jaw clicked slightly.

"It's ok, you can talk now," I said to him loudly. He shot a curious look at Mr Phillips who was still blushing like a girl with his head buried in a pile of papers.

"Impressive," he murmured, sounding not the least bit impressed. I scoffed

"Goody goody."

"You say it like a bad thing," Darcy mocked. I fumed inside almost doing the unthinkable and sticking my tongue out like a baby. Thankfully, I was saved by the bell. I threw myself into collecting my books and made an extra big show of stomping out the room. I swear I heard Darcy's quiet laughter as I stormed out; I tensed. Asshole.

"Oof!" All my books hit the floor with a thud a second before I did with a much louder thud. Laughter surrounded me. This is not happening. I glared at those idiots laughing a little too loudly and they all cleverly stopped and hurried along. A pale, long, white hand reached towards me. It took moments for me to realise it was Edward, staring down at me with a concerned expression.

"Are you ok?" Unthinkingly, I reached out and took his out stretched hand. I was immediately startled by the smoothness, but mainly the iciness of his hand.

"Yeah, thanks." He pulled me up in such a quick motion that I was up and then the floorboards disappeared beneath me and I was falling down again.

"Whoa!" Edward's hands were around me before my feet even slipped; the iciness seemed to seep through my jumper and I shivered involuntarily.

"Careful," another voice warned from behind Edward. I silently cursed as I tried to throw a murderous look at Darcy. I highly doubt this worked considering I couldn't even see straight, in fact, I was seeing double and my head was still on its own personal rollercoaster.

"I think she bumped her head," Edward said, still gazing at me with concern.

"Can you hear me Chey?"

"Please Edward, she's not retarded." Alice was beside her adopted brother. Where did she come from? Darcy snickered as he took a step forward so he was on Edward's other side.

"I'm fine." I was no longer seeing two of everything and the spinning had slowed down. This was about the time when I noticed that I was still ballroom dancing style in Edward's incredibly strong arms. I blushed and straightened up unstably, Edward however, only seemed to tighten his grip around my waist.

"Seriously I'm fine," I said again, trying to make my voice stronger and looking into the eyes of my seemingly growing larger audience. It was pathetic. Even I didn't believe myself so it was no big surprise that everyone else was still surrounding me looking on expectantly, like I was about to faint again. I was about to attempt try number three to convince everyone when suddenly a deep feeling of ease washed through me. I suddenly felt incredibly comfortable despite the fact that I had at least ten pairs of eyes on me and Edward's freezing grip around my body was still tight as ever. I glanced up to find Edward glaring terrifyingly at Jasper who, like Alice, had quite literally appeared out of no where. What was that about? I blanched as the confusion went straight to my head.

"Chey, are you sure you're ok?" Alice asked me. I blinked as she seemed to nudge Jasper ever so slightly that I wasn't even sure it had happened at all.

"Yes, I'm sure I'm fine." My voice was stronger and more confident this time. Alice's eyes flickered meaningfully towards Edward's arm snaked around me. Edward loosened his grip ever so slightly and started to pull away slowly. He handed me my books he had in his other hand which he must have collected sometime. I took a step forward to get them. Oh but someone up there was having some fun with me to give me a freaking break so I happened to stumble again. Edward, Darcy and Jasper all seemed to move forward to grab me before I hit the floor but Edward's arm was around me again first.

"Here, I'll take you home," he offered gently. I nodded wordlessly. What was going on? It wasn't like I had cracked my head or anything; I had simply fallen to the ground. Why could I not even stand? I tried to think back to how hard the impact had been when I fell and whether I had hit my head or not but I couldn't remember any of those details. Unless Edward was made of like stone or something, there was no way I could've fallen down hard enough to have a concussion. Edward towed me effortlessly towards the car park and then towards a shiny black convertible, which even in my state I was able to appreciate.

"Wow," I said softly as Edward held me with one hand and pulled the keys out of his pocket with another. He chuckled softly, almost as if to himself. I was suddenly aware that his whole family seemed to be around us. Darcy, Edward, Alice, Jasper and even Rosaline and Emmett were nearby. I took in the two seniors for the first time. God, Rosaline was stunningly beautiful. She was literally flawless with strawberry blonde hair that framed her face perfectly and a body that any supermodel would die for. Emmett on the other hand was very muscular, even more so than Jasper or Edward. Strong bands of muscle wound themself up his exposed arms and the basic black singlet he wore clung onto his no doubt six (or was that _eight_?) pack and abs. He was scariest thing I had ever seen. Even in daylight.

"How are the rest of you going to get home?" I asked, trying extremely hard not to lean against the car, in case I scratched it or something. Jasper's and Emmett's laugh echoed around the car park, which is impossible since it's an open space but in this case, it did.

"We'll manage," Emmet answered. His voice was different to the others, it boomed like he was using a microphone and was much gruffer and lacked the formality.

"What, are you going to walk?" I asked incredulously. I knew where they lived and it was a pretty long walk because they were on such an isolated huge estate. Again the laugher rang loud and clear, this time Alice's laugh of wind chimes joined in.

"Walk?" Rosaline hissed, interrupting the cheerful laughter and speaking for the first time. She glared at me with such hatred I recoiled slightly. Emmett's hand wrapped around her.

"Sure, why not?" Alice said softly yet clearly. "It's a beautiful day."

"No, seriously I'm fine," I objected as Edward opened the passenger door for me. Rosaline did not look happy and I didn't want to piss her off or mess with her boyfriend whose muscles I was still eyeing warily. I was surprised to hear what seemed like a low growl emerged from Edward; it came from deep within and his whole body vibrated. Rosaline immediately changed her expression.

"Fine," she spat. "We'll _walk_." She said it like a dirty word.

"No, it's fine. I'm totally fine to walk home. Besides," I added glancing at Darcy, "how would Darcy get home?" Darcy smiled smugly.

"I'd walk," he replied.

Oh.

"Do you know the way?" I asked.

"Of course."

"Oh, ok well thanks," I said as Edward sprang gracefully into the driver's seat and started the engine which literally purred. I tried to smile apologetically at Rosaline but she was already half way across the car park, instead I caught Emmett's eyes. He gave me a quick wink and took off at an incredible pace after his girlfriend.

"Sorry for making you all walk," I called out, spinning around in my chair as we pulled out of the car park. I watched as Alice and Jasper waved at us quickly, said something to Darcy then holding hands, skipped in the same direction of Emmett and Rosaline who were talking intently. Darcy raised both eye brows at me with a grin and walked much slower in the other direction. I watched them all until we turned and I couldn't see anything except the greyness of the road and the trees with no leaves. That is when I turned to Edward. My heart skipped a beat when I found him looking back with his charcoal eyes, the gold flickers weren't as obvious today and I briefly wondered why.

"How are you feeling?" He asked quietly.

"I'm fine," I mumbled softly back. I averted my eyes, unable to stare at his perfection for much longer.

"Oh, you're going the wrong way!" I noticed suddenly.

"I hope you don't mind," he answered, looking at me sheepishly, "I thought maybe we could take a little detour."

"Uhm, sure" I replied, unsure what else to say. "Where are we going?"

Edward laughed and the sound was caught by the wind.

"It's a surprise," he answered. Gulp. Still, it was hard to be scared of someone like Edward. It was like being afraid of an angel.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed, seeing the speed monitor for the first time. "Holy crap! Will you slow down?" Instinctively I grabbed my seat belt and made sure it was secure.

"What's wrong?" Edward looked at me in surprise.

"Do you have any idea how fast you're going?" I screamed loudly, terrified.

"Not that fast," he answered.

"Oh my god, keep you're eyes on the road!" I yelled as we zoomed by. "Please, please slow down!" Edward stared at me in amusement but thankfully the monitor went down to 80 which was still 20 above the limit.

"Jeez, you're still over the limit," I said, relaxing slightly. "How many tickets have you gotten?"

"None," he replied, his eyes still not on the road.

"Bullshit," I exclaimed. "And keep your eyes on the road!" Edward turned to eyes to the road but I swear I saw an eye roll.

"It's impossible for me to get tickets, I just slow down if there's police."

"And how would you know?" I demanded.

Edward hesitated.

"I just know," he mumbled as we swerved around a corner and came to a stop.

"Where are we?" I asked, suddenly terrified. We were parked on a patch of grass in a large park that was completely deserted. Shadowed by the large evergreen trees that still had their leaves this time of the year, the place was film perfect for a horror story. Edward turned to me, his eyes serious and his jaw jarred.

"Are you scared?" He whispered softly and I felt shivers.

"Take me home," I whispered back. Suddenly, he grinned and his eyes sparked to life expelling my fears. Reluctantly, I smiled sheepishly back.

"Come on." Edward was out of his seat in a flash and helped me out. I felt stupid for ever thinking he was going to murder me or something as he gently pulled me out of the car. He stretched out his hand.

"May I?"

I blushed as I took his offering hand.

"Can you stand?"

"Of course." I scowled. Edward chuckled and led me forward into the forest that stretched out forever. We walked in silence for a while. It was freezing, mainly because I forgot my jacket and I had an icepack in my hand. Edward seemed to read my mind and looked at me with concern.

"Are you cold?"

I shook my head just as I shivered. Damn it. Edward grinned and looked down at my hand which was clung tightly on his.

"Sorry," he replied sheepishly, "this probably isn't helping." We dropped hands and Edward started pulling his jumper off.

"Why are your hands so cold?" I half complained as he pulled his jumper over my shoulders. Edward shrugged.

"Don't know, they just are," he sounded almost defensive so I decided to drop it. We continued to walk and I wondered what we were doing here. We neared a lake that glistened in the little rays of sun that had somehow forced their way past the big grey clouds that never seemed to leave the sky this time of year. Edward pulled me down on a shadowed big rock just near the lake.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" He murmured quietly, staring out.

"Yes it is," I agreed. It truly was a breathtaking view. Edward turned to me and smiled slightly.

"I apologise for dragging you out here."

"It's fine, I'm enjoying it," I replied.

He looked at me and laughed. "Look at you, you're almost an iceblock." He wrapped one arm around me and unthinkingly I moved closer.

"Better?"

"Not really," I replied honestly, his whole body seemed cold. Edward laughed and pulled away slightly, dropping his arm. We sat quietly. I remembered the time when my whole family used to actually be a family. When Dylan, Amy and David were home all the time and Dad didn't have his big job yet. Every second or third Sunday we used to drive to this little lagoon near our old house. We always complained about it, even dad but mum insisted that Sunday was family time and we had to do something together. We all crammed into this big old station wagon. David and Dylan sat in the back seat and argued about who got the Gameboy first. Amy and I sat in front of them and played I-spy while mum and dad sat in the very front seats. Dad would always drive and mum would yell things at him. She was always a terrible back seat driver. It was a good two hour drive and half way through we would all be bored. David and Dylan always started fighting because neither would ever remember to charge the Gameboy which would run out of batteries and they would both blame the other. Amy would get bored of I-spy and I begged her to play with me 'When I went on holidays, I brought…." or some other car game and she would say no and then complain about me. Dad would tell us all to shut up, I would cry because I hated being told to shut up and mum would tell him to stop yelling at us. Then I would get car sick and scream at dad to stop which he always did ASAP. I would then jump over Amy while she whined and throw up as soon as I was out. Dylan would laugh while Amy would scream 'Ewww gross!" Dad and mum would clean me up while I continued to cry because seriously, who likes to throw up? Then we would all pile back into the car and mum would drive now because she couldn't stand dad's driving and she blamed it for making me throw up. I would go to sleep and end up drooling on Amy or something in which case she would scream 'Ewww gross!" again. Eventually we would get to the lagoon and dad would park about 10 minutes away from it because we couldn't park any closer. Dylan and Amy would complain about the walk and I would wake up and start to cry again because I was tired and couldn't be bothered walking. Dylan would tease me and call me a cry baby and then dad would tell him to shut up. David would carry me while the rest of them lugged our lunch and bags up. But when we finally got to the lagoon, nothing else mattered. I was no longer tired, dad and mum stopped quarrelling about the drive back and everyone stopped complaining. If it was summer, we would jump in and swim around in the perfect clear water. If it was winter and the lagoon had frozen over, we would ice skate around, build snowmans and have snow fights. Then dad and mum would call us for a late lunch which always contained lots of laughter and teasing; like a family should. Everyone was relaxed, happy and even Dylan was all smiles. Finally the day would end and we would all walk back, no one complained on the way back to the car and I even walked. We would laugh and chatter the whole way and it always seemed like a much shorter walk. In the car, all the kids would fall asleep, exhausted from the day. Mum and dad would talk softly, thinking no one was listening but we all subconsciously were. They would be so sweet and mushy to each other, kissing whenever there was a red light and reminiscing their old days; when they first met, their first kiss, their wedding. I never knew if I was dreaming or if that was actually happening. When we arrived home, mum would gently wake up everyone while dad would carry me to my bed and kiss me on the head. Those days were perfect. I could forget about everything. I could believe that we were the perfect family. I could pretend that I hadn't seen Amy throwing out her lunch everyday, I could pretend that I didn't know that dad was having work troubles, I could pretend that mum wasn't seeing a psychologist, I could pretend that I didn't hate Dylan for his constant bullying and that David was not sneaking out at night to meet his girlfriend. Those nights, I sleep soundlessly with no worries. But those days are long gone. They ended when one day mum suggested the trip and dad declined saying he had to work over hours if he wanted to keep his job. Amy said she wanted to go shopping with friends, Dylan wanted to watch some TV show, David was cramming for his SATS and I had a play date. That was that, I never thought much of it and never pushed for another family trip. No one did.

"Chey?" Edward's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Hmm?" I asked as I turned to face him, still a little dreamy.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked curiously.

"Oh you know, stuff." I replied casually.

"I truly don't know," he said and I sensed there was another meaning behind those words.

"I was just thinking about this weekend," I replied. "My siblings are coming back and we're having a sort of family reunion."

"Sounds fun, how many siblings do you have?"

"I have two older brothers and one older sister," I replied. "Dylan and Amy are in colleague and David is working in New York."

"So you're the baby of the family?"

I laughed.

"Yeah, kind of." I shivered again; the temperature had dropped even more. Edward noticed and stood up.

"Here," he offered his hand to me, "we should get home." I took his icy cold hand and he pulled me up; we headed back towards the car.

"Are you close with your siblings?" Edward asked.

"Well, I'm close with David. He's the oldest and we talk once a week at least. Amy and Dylan are always really busy." The sound of leaves crushing filled the forest as we walked. "What about you?" I asked. "You and your siblings all seem really close since you're all so close in age and all."

Edward nodded. "Yeah, we are," he looked thoughtful. "We do a lot of things together as a family. Like hiking and stuff."

"That sounds fun," I replied a little wistfully.

"It is. Carlisle and Esme are very big on family stuff."

"Oh." What else was I suppose to say? Luckily, we reached the car and I opened the passenger seat door.

"Wait," Edward said out of the blue. He tossed me the keys and grinned wickedly, which was so unlike him. I stared at him in shock.

"You drive," he announced, slipping into the passenger seat beside me.

"Are you kidding?" I exclaimed. "Uhm… what if I crash? I don't think your, I mean, Carlisle and Esme would be so pleased."

Edward laughed. "They won't mind too much."

Jeez, even most of the people I knew would want to move out if they crashed a convertible Ferrari.

"What are you, chicken?" Edward asked teasingly, sensing my hesitation.

"Fine," I snapped as I climbed into the driver's seat. "Don't say I didn't warn you. I drive a lot slower than you." I started the engine and glanced at Edward just to check one more time if he was joking. He wasn't. He stared at me, dead serious with a small grin on his face.

"Come on, you didn't like my driving."

"I didn't say that!" I argued, glancing at the review mirror nervously as I backed out. "I just said that you drove at the speed of a maniac."

"You also mentioned that I should look at the road."

"Yeah well most drivers will tell you that!"

Edward laughed and I frowned.

"I don't need to look at the road."

"Show off." I murmured as I stopped at a red light.

"Wait," I suddenly realised. "Oh my god Edward! I don't know the way!"

"But I do," he replied calmly.

"OH MY GOD!" I screeched. "That's why you should be driving!" Quickly I calculated how much time we had before the lights turned green.

"Quick, Edward," I said frantically, unbuckling my seat belt. "Switch with me!"

"Relax Chey," he said casually. "I will tell you where to go; besides, you do not change seats in the middle of a high way. Most drivers will tell you _that_." The light turned green and I wailed.

Edward leaned over and clicked in my seat belt.

"Go straight and turn the first left past the highway."

"I DON'T SPEAK _FAST AND FURIOUS_!" I screamed as the driver behind me hooted angrily.

"Just drive forward," Edward instructed. I followed his instructions slowly and the driver behind overtook me, shooting me a furious look.

"Screw you," I muttered. Edward clucked with amusement.

"Now, now, be nice. Here turn left now." I did as he told. "Go straight for a while."

We cruised in silence for a while.

"So Chey, are we getting home in time for Christmas?" Edward asked sarcastically while he peered at the speed monitor. I glared at him.

"No one has ever died for going too slow," I shot at him.

"At this rate, we're both going to die of old age in this car."

"Haha, funnnnyyy." I replied. "Don't worry, people like you don't die." Edward stared at me with a mixture of shock and surprise.

"What?"

"You're too perfect." I said and then blushed straight away. Edward shoulders went back down and he laughed. I wondered what he thought I meant. We talked a little more about school and thanks to his instructions; we soon pulled into my driveway. I turned at him daring him to say something about how long it took us to get home but he just stared back innocently.

"Well, thanks for driving me home and showing me the lake." I replied as we both stepped out of the car. "You don't have to walk me to my door."

"Don't be absurd," he replied and we started to walk up the driveway. I rung the doorbell and Chelsea answered.

"Chey, thank god. I was just starting to worry. Oh, hello." She blinked at Edward, clearly taken back by his perfection.

"Good evening," he replied politely, smiling at her which made her blush. Poor Chels. "I apologise for bringing her back so late. We would have left earlier if I had been aware of her glacier pace driving."

And… there it was.

"Bye Edward," I glared at him and stepped through the door. "See you tomorrow." Edward bid us both good night and left.

"Wow Chey," Chelsea said as we closed the door. "Nice catch."

I laughed. "It's not like that. He doesn't like me in that way."

As if a guy like that could feel anything like that towards a girl like me. I kicked off my shoes and wondered into the kitchen.

"Where did you go?" She asked, clearly still fascinated by Edward.

"Oh this beautiful park place, near a lake."

"Now why would he do that if he didn't like you like that hey?" Chelsea called as she disappeared into the lounge. Damn it. I never had gotten the answer to why he had randomly bought me to the park. Oh well, there was tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

**CEO DAD**

I went up to my room to change, head still running over what had just happened. Edward was unlike any other guy I had ever met. He was so easy to talk to and there was something about him, I felt like I could just be myself. I was still puzzling over this when a small knock sounded on my door.

"Wait one sec!" I called as I threw on the first top I could find. "Come in!"

My mum stepped into my room.

"Hello darling," she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "How was your day at school?"

"It was fine mum," I replied, sitting cross leg on my bed. "What's up?"

"You're dad is coming home for dinner today so we're going to have a nice family dinner. I've told Derek to prepare for the occasion." I hardly ever saw my dad these days since he always got home after I was in bed and left before I woke up.

"Uhm ok, great." I replied.

"We'll have a talk about the family reunion." Mum sat gingerly on the edge of my bed. "Cheyenne, I wish you could've told me earlier. I have no idea what to prepare. Of course I've instructed Derek to create a big feast with everyone's favourites and I called your dad to make sure he was free over the weekend. He wasn't but I've insisted he cancels all his plans, god knows that man is becoming a workaholic."

"Mum, I'm sure that's fine." I interrupted before she could start complaining about dad's work.

"Oh well, if you're sure," she replied, looking very unsure herself. "Anyways, dinner will be at seven, Chelsea will call you." Mum leaned forward and gave me another quick kiss and left my room. I quickly pulled out my phone and gave Kiki, Karm, Pearl and Kale quick calls making sure that they were all ok. God, after my evening with Edward it seemed hard to believe that the whole Paul thing had happened just before on the same day. I groaned and collapsed on my bed. Too much drama! No wonder I was so tired. I was just drifting off when there was another knock on my door. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Come in!" I called and the door opened.

"Hey kiddo," dad said, walking in to my room. "How's it going?"

"Hi dad," I replied, jumping up and giving him a hug. "It's going good." Dad looked me up and down.

"Have you grown again?" He asked. I smiled secretly. He asked me that every time.

"I hope so," I replied. I was above average for my age so while I'm tall I might as well try and aim for model tall.

"Your mum sent me to tell you dinner's ready."

"Oh," I said.

"So how's work?" I asked as we headed down the stairs.

"Same-o same-o," he replied with a shrug. "You're mum told me the other kids are coming home this weekend."

The other kids?

"Yep," I answered. "You'll be here, won't you dad?"

"Of course squirt, I can't wait to see them." He reached to ruffle my hair and I dodged him laughingly.

"Really John, she's hardly a child anymore." Mum disapproved as we took our seats at the table.

"To me she'll always be the little baby of the family," he replied as Derek served our soup. "Hey Chey, remember the time Dylan tricked you into thinking mud was chocolate? You were sick for days."

I groaned. How could I forget?

"John," my mum scowled my dad. "I'm sure it's not a memory she's likely to forget and why must you call her Chey? We both agreed her name would be Cheyenne when she was born. It is the name on her birth record, her passport, and her school records."

I sighed.

"Pauline, Cheyenne is her name. Chey is just her nick name."

My mother huffed, exasperated.

"Anyways, John. Cheyenne and I were just talking about this weekend. What should we do?"

"Mum, you really don't need to do much." I said, digging into my pasta. Oh, ew.

"It's a special moment, Cheyenne. Even Dylan is coming. I haven't seen him since Christmas. He never even calls anymore and Amy is no better." It really was no wonder. Mum expected them to call everyday and even David didn't do that.

"I expect that it'll just be nice for them all to be around even just for two days," Dad said. "We'll have a nice dinner on Friday and Saturday night and that will be it. Though I still haven't gotten David a congratulations present. Always knew that boy would come off the best. Oh and you of course Chey."

I rolled my eyes.

"Oh yes! A present, what a great idea!" My mum said, suddenly enthusiastic. There was nothing my mum loved more than spending money, especially on her children. Sometimes this was a great thing, other times she brought the most useless stuff. Good thing Dad had the money to burn.

"A nice dinner sounds good also; I can hardly be bothered to throw a party especially in this short notice."

"Well I've already brought him the new Casino watch," I said, remembering how good it looked on Darcy and hoped that David liked it.

"How sweet of you Cheyenne." Mum cooed. "I'll go shopping tomorrow." Mum and dad then started a discussion of what would benefit him the most while I waited for dessert. Derek came in with three bowls of strawberries and cream, three slices of chocolate cake and coffee and tea. Yum! I ate all mine quickly. Pasta was made from this disgusting organic cream thing so I didn't eat much. I was hungry and I didn't want to offend Derek so I crammed in the desert.

"Here kiddo, I'm not supposed to eat cream." Dad passed me his strawberries and cream and I smirked. Oh sure, fresh fruit and cream was not allowed but chocolate cake and coffee heaped with sugar was all good. At the moment though I didn't care. I started on dad's desert while my mum glared at me critically and gaily popped a strawberry with no cream in her mouth.

"Cheyenne, I really think you should visit my dietician."

I groaned.

"Why? Chey, are you not eating properly?" Dad was angrily looking at me. After Amy, eating well in our home was a big deal.

"No!" I exclaimed. "I'm eating fine, like I normally do."

"It's quite the contrary actually John," my mother informed dad. "I feel that you've been eating too much junk food Cheyenne. You're waist line has expanded drastically!" "WHAT!" I yelped. Ok, excuse me but I am NOT fat. I'm not skinny, but I am not fat!

"Pauline, Chey is not fat. She's perfectly healthy looking."

Aw, thanks dad.

"I'm not saying she's fat. I'm just saying she should be careful because she's heading down the track."

I rolled by eyes, we've had this conversation hundreds of times in the last couple of months.

"Cheyenne, I only want what's best for you. You know that."

"Yeah whatever mum," I grabbed a strawberry, covered it in whipped cream and popped it in my mouth.

"Mmm…"

My mum glared back at me.

"Thanks Derek, that was delicious. Now if you'll excuse me." I stood up and ran up the stairs, slamming my door hard and locking it. I was fummiinnnnggg! I quickly dialled Kale's number.

"What?" She snapped into the phone.

"Uh… Kale it's me."

"Oh," her voice immediately turned back to normal. "Hey Chey, what's up gorgeous?"

"It's my mother, she's freaking impossible." I collapsed on my bed. "So dad came home early today yeah? And we were having this whole family dinner and mum made Derek make this dis-freaking-gusting pasta. It was like organic or something so I full pigged out on desert which was so nice and then mum starts yapping on about how I'm getting fat."

"What? That's ridiculous! You're like a stick."

"Well, I'm not a stick but I know I'm not fat. And then she's all like 'visit my dietician' and I'm all like 'bullshit!' Agh! Anyways I'm so sick of her going on about my weight."

"Aw, you poor thing. God, mothers. What can you do?"

I could hear her rolling her eyes.

"Tell me about it," I replied, rolling my eyes with her. The thing was, Kale's parents are incredibly understanding and never ever did things to her like my parents. However, Kale was always the first person I called when things with my parents went wrong. She never understood how my mother could say things so unthoughtful and at the same time, she couldn't comprehend why I went out of my way to avoid her. She played along well though but in the end I called her only because she made me hate my mother that little bit less. Kale's mother died when she was just twelve. Kale's dad had remarried to this really nice woman who was almost like a mother to her. Almost. We both sat in thoughtful silence for a while

"Do you miss her?" I whispered carefully. There was a slight pause. A sigh from Kale; giving away just how much it really hurt her to think of her mum.

"Every day," she replied softly. "But you know Chey, your mum… she's just trying to do what's best. And I know that's hard to believe and I'm not saying you've done anything wrong or something, but you are her only child left. She might be like clinging onto her last chance to be a parent; it might be a good idea to cut her some slack."

I thought about this for a while. It was true, I had always been the baby of the family and I never use to mind mum babying me but now that I was older… well things had changed. I sighed.

"You're right. But sometimes she can be sooo annoying." I giggled.

"Yeah, well don't worry. When everyone gets back this weekend she'll be fine."

"God!" I groaned. "I wish it was the weekend already!"

"Aw, poor baby. Is five days of flirting with two of the hottest newbies too much work?" Kale teased.

I shrieked into the phone.

"As if I'm flirting!"

"Pleasseee! Everyone knows that Edward took you out for a little drive to you know, _relax you_!"

"AGH!!" I screamed playfully.

"Well what about you?" I demanded between giggles. "How's Cruz? Last time I saw, he was all over you. And I mean _all_…!" Kale screamed back and away we went. Our mother problems forgotten and getting lost in the superficial world of boys.

"No, ok being like fully serious now," I said, twirling my hair as I lay on my bed. "Edward is incredibly nice but so is Darcy. In some ways, I mean he can be all sarcastic and jokey and oh my god his smirk! It's so know it all."

"Yeah but Darcy's like way hot. Well so is Edward, I mean his whole family is. You have to wonder if like Esme and Carlisle purposely picked like pretty babies. Or maybe it's something in the water."

"God Kale, you're such a bitch!" I laughed. "You can't tell how someone's going to turn out when their older by how they look as a baby. I mean look at Dylan. Do you remember how cute he was as a baby? Now he's so gross, he doesn't even shave."

"Ew gross!"

"Tell me about it."

"Still, if he did shave, he would be totally do-able."

"Oh my god Kale! You did not just say you would do my brother if he shaved. Excuse me, but don't you have a boyfriend?"

Kale snorted on the other end.

"Cruz is my one and only! But I'm saying your brother is not totally you know, hopeless or whatever. As if I would do him! The guy used to throw snow balls at us remember? Totally ruined my hair and what not."

A knock sounded on my door and I heaved up to unlock my door.

"Wow Kale, you're such a barbie. And BTW, my brother is pathetic. He's a pathetic stoner dude who probably doesn't even wake up until like three." I opened my door.

"As if, no one can sleep til three." Kale was always defending my brother; her childhood crush which was spurred on by Dylan's shameless flirting with any girl in sight.

"Well Dylan can and anyways… Oh hi dad." My father stood in my door frame waiting politely.

"Hello Chey." Kale whispered in her impersonation of my father. I giggled.

"Sorry Kale, I got to go."

"Alright, fine. Tell daddy I say hi. Oh and tell Darcy I say 'My friend is hot for you.' You know, when you guys walk tomorrow and your face is glued to his."

"Ew gross, Kale! Whatever, I'll see you tomorrow." I really hoped dad couldn't hear through the phone.

"Bye SLUT!" Kale giggled just as I hung up. I smiled.

"Kale says hi," I said as dad stepped in and closed the door behind him.

"Oh, which one is she again?"

"Dadd!" I groaned. He could never remember my friend's names which gets embarrassing when he can't remember which of _his_ friends are whose parents.

"Sorry, you all look the same. Stunning and beautiful of course."

I rolled my eyes; great, mum had sent him to suck up. I waited patiently for him to get on with it.

"So listen Chey, you mum and I were talking about this weekend. And we've decided that we should have a good old fashioned barbeque. On the beach, how does that sound? You can invite all your friends."

Yeah right. This was totally my dad's idea, I mean my mum's ditzy and all but she's not stupid enough to suggest a barbeque on the beach when it was so cold that I was surprised that the sea hadn't frozen over.

"Dad, it's winter. Remember?" I reminded him. "Not exactly beach season."

"Oh." His forehead creased as he tried to recall when summer had ended and the days had started getting cold. Well between his always warm home, his always heated office and his seat heated Mercedes; it was easy to see how he didn't even notice the cold.

"Well how about a little party at home then? Just a little get together, some wine, some dinner. We'll even have a bonfire and those uh… marshmallow things you kids love so much."

I laughed out loud. Last time we had s'mores, dad ate like a whole packet when mum wasn't watching.

"Sure dad that would be fun."

It would be fun. We could have that on Saturday night and family dinner on Friday and Sunday night. I'm sure I could convince my siblings to leave on Monday morning instead of Sunday night. Besides, it would be fun to see dad trying to convince mum.

"Of course it will be fun." My dad said confidently, standing up. "Well, you better get to bed. Good night." He leaned over to peck my forehead.

"Uhh dad," I called as he left the room.

"Yeah?" he said, hesitating in the door way.

"It's only nine."

"Oh, well then, continue."

I giggled softly as he closed the door. I pulled out my homework and worked through it quickly. I was done at 9:30. I sighed and tried to concentrate on reading a book. That didn't work to well so I decided to go downstairs and get some hot chocolate and cookies. The minute I opened my door I could hear the sounds of mum and dad arguing drifting up the stairs. I hesitated slightly. My parents hadn't had a real fight in ages and I wanted to keep it that way. Then I heard my dad's teasing voice. I relaxed and started to head down the stairs.

"Hey mum, hey dad," I called into the longue as Derek prepared my evening tea.

"Chey, in here please." My dad called back. I grabbed my food, thanked Derek and walked into the longue where my mum sat crossed leg looking strangely smug and sipping her organic fruit tea or something equally gross. Dad was sitting across from her and his face was set with determination.

"What's up?" I asked, dipping my cookie into my steaming hot chocolate.

"Cheyenne, your dad has just informed me about this whole get together social. And since I'm well rushed off my feet, I've told him that if he wants to throw a party in less than five days, he can organise it." My mum explained, her eyes twinkling. I looked at dad incredulously as he stared back.

"Now sweetie, don't look at me like that." Dad complained. "What? You don't think your old man is up to it? All I need is an address book of everyone we want to invite and the uhm… food people. It's simple." I groaned. My dad? Organise a get together for the rich and famous in less than five days? And impress my mum? I burst out laughing. There was no way that was going to happen. My mum joined in, laughing softly to herself. Dad stared at us both, exasperated.

"Oh alright," he said. "I'll show you both, I'll organise the party of the year."

I doubled over laughing.

"Well John, I feel sorry for you." My mum said gleefully, barely controlling her laughter. "So I'm going to help you by giving you a list of things to do. Let's see… Ah! First you need to compile a guest list, visit Antonio and pick out invitation designs. Meet up with Patricia and give her a list of addresses. Don't forget to get a few extra, there's always a few that go astray. Then you need to talk to… hm… let me think…"

"Gill!" I cut in. "She's the best caterer."

"Oh, of course. Talk to Gill and arrange for her to cater that night. You must convince Leo to ship in the shrimp and other sea food from Tasmania, they have the best. Then interior design from Georgiano perhaps? Yes, Georgiano will be perfect. Oh! Well, should it be a cocktail party or simply a sophisticated get together? Well neither way, you'll have to organise liquor with Lily, she always gets the best. Oh and nothing younger than twenty years please." My mother paused to take a deep breath."

"And, don't forget mocktails for those of us under eighteen! It has to be from Paul. His stuff actually tastes like the real deal." I added quickly.

"Of course dear. Now, you'll need to organise chauffers home for everyone, double up on guards and make sure Chelsea has a helper for coats and everything. Also, you must arrange for Paulina to come the day before to clean but make sure she's not in the way of Georgiano or Gill." My father looked as white as a ghost. He cleared his throat and stared at us.

"Anything else?" He asked meekly. I polished off my hot chocolate and gathered it up.

"Nope, that's it. Good luck!" I called as I walked to return my dishes.

"You'll need it." I whispered softly as I skipped up the stairs with a big smile on my face. Watching my CEO father plan a party in five days? Now that's entertainment.

'**ZONING OUT' **

I opened my curtain blinds and the sunlight came streaming in. I was ecstatic. I hadn't seen the sun in at least five months. Needless to say, I was in a great mood. I sung as I dressed and got ready for school. I even chatted to my mum while she had breakfast about the whole party planning thing. By the time I left the house for school I was skipping and singing to my iPod. And then there he was, standing like a gift from God in the bright sunlight. The sun made his ruffled hair shine and his eyes sparkle.

"Morning!" I sung as I walked (alright skipped!) towards him. Darcy smiled at me in friendly amusement.

"Hey Chey, you look like you're in a good mood," he greeted me. I giggled and put my iPod away.

"Well who wouldn't be? The sun is shining, the clouds are gone, the sky is sooo blue and I'm wearing a dress for the first time this year!" I laughed and spun around; causing my Claire fitted white dress to dance around me before settling above my knee. Darcy laughed with me and I noticed how good he looked in his black T-shirt that fit him snugly.

"It sure is a great day huh?"

I nodded enthusiastically as we walked to school.

"Edward says to thank you once again for letting him take you to the lake so unexpectedly yesterday," Darcy said as a leaf slowly floated down and landed in his hair.

"Oh," I replied, surprised. "Isn't he coming to school today?"

"No, he and his whole family have gone hiking."

I did remember him telling me something yesterday about how they went hiking frequently but in the middle of the school week? I shook it off.

"Oh, well it was nothing. I really enjoyed it."

Darcy laughed abruptly.

"Yeah, well I'm not sure what you're hiding but I apologise on behalf of Edward for everything he said."

"What?" I asked startled, staring at him. "Edward didn't say anything, not like that. Not that you need to apologise for or something."

Darcy looked at me sceptically. His walk slowed down to a stop and soon we were standing face to face.

"Seriously?" He asked me softly and my heart soared with his heartfelt confusion.

"Yes," I replied just as quietly. The leaves ruffled in the soft summery breeze which ran through Darcy's hair. With out thinking, I reached out and slowly seized the leaf in his hair and pulled it off.

"This was in your hair," I whispered. We both watched the leaf fall gradually from my hand to the floor, dancing side to side. I found myself staring into his eyes and the world seemed to evaporate around me and before I knew it, we were leaning closer. It felt like a sub conscious, I was numb. Then his lips touched mine and my numbness disappeared with everything else. His hands were on the small of my back and mine were on his chest. It was a soft kiss, almost hesitant. He tasted of fresh air and sunlight which like everything else, made no sense. His arms wrapped tightly yet gently around my waist and I leaned into him. Then it was over. My phone vibrated and we jolted apart as if we'd been electrocuted. I fumbled for my phone, my mind buzzing along with it.

"Hello?" I said breathlessly into the phone.

"Chey? What's up? You sound like you ran a marathon." James' voice rang through the other end.

"Nothing, nothing. I'm fine; I'm just walking to school. Listen, I'll see you there. Bye." I hung up and closed my eyes, wondering if anything had actually happened.

"Who was that?" Darcy asked cautiously from behind me. I turned around and upon seeing his eyes, his hands, his chest, all which had been in some way touching me seconds ago; I realised it had happened. I had kissed Darcy. What did that mean? Were we together now? Was it a one off? The questions suffocated me and I had to get away.

"Chey, are you ok?" Darcy put one hand on my shoulder and it was like a jolt shot through me. I spun around and his hand dropped to his side as he stared at me with surprise.

"I'm sorry," I murmured. "Look, the weather's great, I think I'll run to school. See you around." The words to me sounded like garble but never the less, I slipped off my less than two inch Dior kitten heels and ran bare foot. The wind ripped through my hair and I didn't even notice my hair tie come out and my hair wisped around my face. I ran, leaving all thoughts of Darcy and the person himself further and further behind me. I ran past the fellow C listers who stared at me in shock and ignored the 'oh my god is that Chey?'s. I ran past the B listers in their last year's Mercedes who opened their windows and yelled 'oh my god Chey! Want a ride?" I ran into the student quad and realised I had no idea where to go, but I couldn't stop running. I considered the clearing but no doubt Karm or one of the others would be there and I would have to explain why I was red faced, bare foot and oh my god, was I running? I ran where ever my feet took me until a pair of arms grabbed me from behind and pulled me towards them. I stared into a pair of gorgeous dark brown eyes. Like chocolate. Like Darcy. I recoiled and struggled.

"Chey! Chey!" The person was yelling my name. Just like Darcy had when I ran away from him. After kissing him. For the first time.

"For god's sake Chey! What the hell's going on?"

"I'm sorry Darcy," I muttered struggling. "I just can't do this right now." The arms slightly loosened around me.

"Darcy?" The person was confused and surprised. I found my feet and turned to run until someone else grabbed me.

"Chey! What's wrong? Talk to me!" The voice demanded loudly. I struggled again, more vigorously. Suddenly a hand whipped across my face. Hard. It stung. But it brought me back to earth.

"OUCH!" I screamed.

"Was that necessary?" Asked an angry voice. I blanked slightly. Then tried to free myself again. But the arms had me caged in. Then wetness. The cool drops of water slid down my face and I screamed. And when I looked up again I could see the faces. James, Karm, Pearl, Serena, Kiki, André; all the A listers. Then the B listers, the C listers, the D listers and the No listers. Snickering. Laughing. Teasing. Staring. And then Cruz, his arms wrapped tightly around me. Kiki, beside him with an empty plastic bottle. I shivered. James immediately went to shrug off his jacket when he realised that it was such a nice day, he hadn't brought one. What happened? I felt like I'd just woken up from a dream. Then I saw his face. Darcy. Walking into the dead silent quad and everyone's eyes turned to him like daggers. He didn't even flinch. His eyes were on me. Filled with concern and curiosity. Cruz tensed around me and I sensed that he was considering whether or not the fact that I had mentioned Darcy's name meant that he had done this to me. What was this though? A momentarily lapse of craziness, that was for sure. And then it all seemed so stupid. I had acted like a savage but now I was dripping wet, my right cheek was burning and what for? Nothing. I had over reacted. Well, my body had over reacted. Screw this. I struggled against Cruz and his arms tightened. I shot him an exasperated look.

"Hey Cruz, you can let me go. I'm not gonna run away."

He stared at me just as perplexed but Kale placed a hand on his arm and he immediately let me go. He stepped back and joined what seemed like the entire school in the art of staring at me expectantly. I walked towards Darcy, feeling like a character on a movie screen.

"I'm so sorry Darcy," I said. "I didn't mean to run and make a fool of myself. It was just so strange. Ok, you know the feeling of being caged in? And then let out in the wild? Well you probably don't, but that's how I felt just then. Like I just had to… just had to run!" The smile burst across my face uncontrollably. Darcy smiled hesitantly back.

"You're all wet, you must be cold," was all he said. It was true. I was drenched and freezing despite the sunshine.

"Here." Darcy removed his shirt and I, along with all the girls, could just barely suppress the sight of his tan, lean and extremely fit body. I reached out and took his shirt. It was still warm and smelt just like him.

"Thanks," I laughed softly. "You're gonna walk around like that all day?"

He laughed back sheepishly.

"Nah, I have a spare shirt in my locker."

Damn…

"Thanks," I replied, shaking off the thought. I spun around and headed towards the change rooms. Really, I should've known better. Karm and Kale seized me from either side with Pearl and Kiki bringing up the rear. Serena, Ivy and some other A- listers seemed eager to follow but Karm made it clear that they weren't invited. She quite literally threw me through the door and slammed it behind us.

"Cheyenne Rachel Crystelé," she began, her eyes slicing through me. "This better be good." I sighed as my four best friends stared intently at me. I started to remove my wet clothes.

"I'm so sorry guys. I just totally zoned out."

"Zoned out?" Kale snapped. "I zone out in advanced philosophy. _That_ was not zoning out."

"Sit down," I sighed again and they all obliged. "This is a long story." And so I filled them in. Never could I ever explain how I felt through that phase; quite literally, I had acted like a savage animal and even I didn't understand how that had happened. The rest, I could explain. And we completely ditched first period as I filled them in on everything, starting from English class.

"So that's it," I said into the silent atmosphere. Four stone like faces stared back at me; then they abruptly broke into life.

"I can't believe you kissed Darcy! Was it good?"

"You lucky bitch!"

"Oh my god! No wonder you freaked out!"

And then Karm's question.

"So is it Darcy or Edward?"

I paused as did everyone else. Was that what it was? Darcy or Edward? I didn't know. I didn't know how I felt about either one. I groaned and collapsed on a seat. The other girls giggled and jumped up to surround me.

"Oh dear… two of the most gorgeous guys on the face of the earth. Which one should I choose?" Pearl mused teasingly. I giggled along with the others. It was kind of silly. But then something else not so silly.

"Aw… what am I gonna do?" I asked seriously. Silent understanding over took the room. I was staring at Karm and her face broke into a grin.

"What are you staring at me for chickie?" She asked laughingly.

"Oh I dunno," I shrugged innocently, "maybe because I can see the idea streaming out of you!"

Everyone laughed and Karm shrugged modestly.

"Ok, listen, I have an idea. No one is going to remember this morning after this…" We all leaned in and Karm planned away.

**LET'S STRUT**

"Oh my god, are you ready yet?" I asked through my laughter. I was answered with more laughter.

"SHH!!" Karm warned us though she was laughing herself. "Come on guys, they're out there!"

"Really?" I squealed.

"Oh my god, shut up!!" Kale shushed me but we all just started laughing again.

"Seriously guys," Karm said, struggling to keep a straight face. "Don't forget why we're here!"

"Yes mummy!" I replied and then burst out laughing again.

"One minute!" Someone yelled and we all squealed.

"We have to be businesslike!" Karm commanded. "We're doing this for a reason."

"Well then let's go out!"

Karm walked forward and squared her shoulders, she shot us a smile and a wink before the curtains opened.

"Let's kick some ass!" Pearl whispered to me and I smiled. Damn straight. Hundreds of faces stared back at me and for a second I became the scared, brace faced, acne covered thirteen year old. And then I saw Karm, in front of me. Hey body was draped with only a sheet and at the same time she looked like a Greek Goddess. It was her confidence that made her beautiful, it was what the audience responded to and it was what I needed. I did what she instructed. I rolled my shoulders back, straightened my back, shook my hair, plastered a pout on my face and strutted forward; imagining camera flashes and VCRS rolling. I reached the front and the sound of cheering and applause reached my ears. At this point, I dropped the pout and smiled normally. Maybe I imagined it, but the noise got even louder. I felt like I had just stood up and screamed out my whole life story. I felt utterly exposed, vulnerable and at the same time beautiful. I turned around and walked back down the long stress, passing Pearl on the way down. I turned and saw her blow a kiss. We were it. We were sexy, we were smart, we were sophisticated, we were wanted; we were perfect. But not because we were blessed with looks, it was because we had found the secret ingredient. Inner beauty. The thing that shone through and could hide anything, no matter how ugly. I believed it; I knew it and that was why I was standing up here with hundreds of people staring at me, wishing they were me. The music hummed to a stop and they were on their feet. Cheering, clapping, yelling, and screaming. Pearl and I walked up to join Kiki, Karm and Kale already up there. We wrapped our arms around each other, glowing with joy. Karm produced a microphone from god knows where.

"Thanks everyone!" She yelled and everyone sat down quietly.

"We hope you enjoyed the show! I would like to thank all the models, Mr Hemrick for authorising this, Mrs Linter for allowing us to throw this fundraiser but most importantly, I wanna thank these sexy girls right here." The audience laughed and we smiled oh so modestly. "Together, we pulled off this charity event in less than five hours! Together, we showed you all that you can be beautiful wearing nothing but a plain old sheet." The microphone was handed on to Kale, who gently flicked her hair and cleared her throat. Even from up on the stage, I could see Cruz's eyes watching her intently with a mixture of emotions but strongest of all; adoration.

"You know, our school is big. But we all look out for each other yeah? We make sure our friends have always got a smile on their face!" There was a murmur of agreement, even up on stage. "There are people out there who hide under that. They pretend that everything's ok, when really, its not. They're in pain!"

Pearl took the microphone, her face set seriously.

"There are people out there who think that they're not worth it. Who think that no body would care if they died or hurt themselves. That's not true. People care. We care! No body should ever feel that way."

"There are people out there who think of suicide. It may even be your friends. You just never took the time out to care!" Kiki announced. "We need to be more aware. We need to tell people we care! The next time your friend is sad and you ask why. Don't take 'nothing, I'm fine' for an answer. Grab the ice cream and have a DNM!"

I held the microphone in my hand and looked out at those who were for once, truly listening.

"It's to those people, to those that don't think anyone cares, who thinks their ugly, pathetic, losers that this is dedicated to. We have shown you that being beautiful doesn't come from what you wear, who you are, how much money you have etc. It comes from who are inside. If you believe you are sexy then believe me, so will other people. Because no one is harder to impress than yourself." I paused and stared at the C listers and the D listers. Those who were on that list not because they were bitches (though some were) but because they never had the confidence to fight for something better. I looked them in the eye and expressed everything.

"You are beautiful. Believe that. You're worth it. You're perfect. Nobody can tell you other wise. This is for you. All of you. If we can look beautiful in sheets, than you can look even better in the tailored clothes you wear. Please help those who never got this message until it was too late, those who are suffering from depression."

Karm took the microphone from my hand and spoke with authorisation.

"Donate at the boxes at the each door. Help those receive the help they need not to become beautiful because they already are, but to realise that. Someone has been telling them lies and now they need to know the truth."

Mr Hemrick and Mrs Linter got up to thank us and dismiss the assembly while we piled out the back and changed. I slipped back into Darcy's shirt which fell slightly above my knee. I stared at myself in the mirror and smiled. I whipped a ribbon out of my hair and tied it around my waist as a belt. I washed the red heart from my cheek and realised that for the first time in about two years, I was wearing no make up in public. It felt good. I shook out my hair and let it hang free. This was me. And I was beautiful alright. I giggled softly to myself and turned to look at Cruz, James and all the other people who had come to congratulate us.

"Chey, you were amazing," Liam told me as he walked past. I received compliments from many people. Karm was right. No one mentioned this morning's happenings. I smiled at her as she mouthed 'I told you so' behind James' back. I watched as the other models gathered up their clothes and walked laughingly back out to lunch.

"Come on Chey!" Kiki called to me as she walked out with the rest of them.

"I'll catch up with you later guys," I called back. Karm turned and flashed me a smile while Pearl blew me a kiss. And then it was all quiet. I stared around at the suddenly empty changing rooms and sighed happily. It was so hard to believe that we had just pulled off a charity show. In just five hours too. The things Karm could do were incredible.

"Hey you." An arm wrapped around me and someone whispered in my ear. I spun around and planted a kiss on Darcy's cheek.

"Hey," I replied, giggling softly. Darcy had changed into a white T-shirt but still looked as good as ever.

"You are fantastic," he said, holding me tightly.

"Aw, you're so sweet."

Darcy pulled me down onto a bench and looked at me seriously. He hesitated and looked away. I took his hand into mine and squeezed it encouragingly.

"Listen Chey," he started, looking back at me. His eyes expressed his regret in having to say what was soon to be said. "I just want to say that whatever you want, I mean, it's up to you. If you're not ready, or don't feel the same way, I get that." Darcy struggled to think of what to say next.

I sighed and leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Darcy, I've thought about this for ages. And the truth is, I'm not sure how I feel. I mean, you're a great guy and I like you. But I dunno. I don't think I'm ready."

Darcy looked thoughtful for a while.

"That's ok," he replied finally, smiling.

"Really?" I asked, looking up at him.

Darcy laughed.

"Yeah, it is."

"Thanks."

There was a silence, filled with the understanding that both of us had of the other.

"Chey," Darcy turned and stared deep into my eyes. "Listen, I just want to say, be careful. I know that you and Edward have… well, I know that you may feel something for him." I shifted nervously, unsure of what to say. Did he know that Edward was one of the reasons that I had said no?

"Just be careful," he continued, "Edward is probably my best friend and he's a great guy. But just…be careful ok?"

"Ok." I replied, trying to make sense of it all. Darcy broke the solemn atmosphere and smiled, jumping up.

"Let's go get lunch."

Dazzled by the change of attitude, I took his hand and let him lead me to the student quad. My hand was still in his as we pushed through the double doors. All eyes turned to us and zoomed in on our hands and I felt self-conscious all over again.

"Come on," Darcy nudged me. We walked over to the food line. I was so aware of the people staring at me that I didn't even notice him paying for my food. Even the cafeteria lady seemed to be staring at us curiously.

"DARCY! CHEY!" Kale screamed from our spot, making everyone jump and disrupting the awkward silence. Darcy towed me over and we sat down with everyone. As soon as we sat, the quad returned to its usual noisy atmosphere. I smiled with satisfaction when I realised that the number one topic was our charity catwalk.

"Hey, where are the Cullens?" Cruz asked suddenly, looking around. Immediately, I noticed Darcy's relaxed attitude change, he clenched and his face was devoid of all emotion.

"The whole family went hiking; they do that a lot when the days are nice like today." His answer was perfectly logical and Cruz nodded and turned back to Kale but something about his tone caught me off guard. He sounded so defensive and his answer too practised.

"Ivy! Wait!" André's yell had caught my attention along with everyone else's and we turned to see him chasing a pissed off Ivy. I groaned along with about half the school. This was getting much too tiring. Karm looked just as angry as Ivy.

"What is wrong with that idiot?" Her screech was utterly venomous. James sighed and got up, ready to intercept André who was nearing us along with Ivy. Ivy raced past James and sat down next to Lily, she spun around, screaming unrecognisable words at her former boyfriend. André stepped towards her but James was ready; grabbing him by the shoulders and firmly pushing him back a step.

"What's going on André?" James asked powerfully. Suddenly, Andrés eyes flashed and his expression turned furious. I looked on confused. Since when was he ever angry?

"It's always me isn't it?" André said, gritting his teeth angrily. "Everyone thinks that I'm the one who's always harassing Ivy. But that BITCH…" He spat the words furiously at Ivy who was glaring at him. "… is the one who has been making my life hell." Then he turned his narrowed eyes on the rest of us.

"I'm guessing you all knew about Josh," he threw the words at us and I winced guiltily. André struggled to push James off him, who looked just as guilty as I felt.

"My god!" Ivy cried bitterly. "Get over it André. You know, Josh is much more of a man than you'll ever be."

André laughed shortly.

"A man? Josh is nothing more than a drugged out player. I would've thought you'd have known better."

"Screw you."

"That's all that Josh wants from you."

"You did not just say that! Well at least he wants something from me. You were too obsessed with your studies to even notice how I looked. You probably don't even know the colour of my eyes." Ivy was on her feet, screaming at André. Her words seemed to hit him like a fist. André staggered backwards and James let him go.

"Shut up Ivy," Karm snapped sharply.

She stood up, her face inches from Ivy's. Ivy recoiled and then narrowed her eyes.

"You're kidding," she said furiously. "You're taking his side? Didn't you make up the rule that Diamonds always stick together?"

"You're not a Diamond. And you never will be." Karm looked pitifully at Ivy. "It's your loss; André is the best thing that ever happened to you."

Even in his state, André blushed at the compliment.

"God Karm, stop being such a bitch." Lily stood up to defend her friend and I briefly admired her for having the courage to stand up to Karm. "Ivy's always wanted to be a Diamond. She just wants you to like her."

Karm brushed off the slight plead like a speck of dirt.

"Sorry Lily, but I'm afraid that's going to be impossible."

Ivy looked like she'd been slapped and ran out of the quad, Lily closely behind her. André snapped out of his truce and looked at Karm gratefully.

"Thanks Karm," he said quietly, sitting down. James sat down with him and looked at his girlfriend with new admiration. Karm smirked at him and then turned to André.

"What's wrong with you André? Don't answer, rhetorical question. Why don't you use your clever ass brain to actually make some good decisions? She's such a slag. You have to give her up. Or I swear to god, I will get you zapped so you don't remember anything anymore."

James' admiration towards her was washed right out by her words. Cruz snickered while Kale and I rolled our eyes.

"Yeah, I guess." André sighed and pulled out a roll from his bag. Karm rolled her eyes and opened her mouth, ready to give him another lecture about pre- packed lunches. James touched her arm gently and her mouth snapped shut. Over all these years, I'm still amazed at the power he has over the all mighty Karm.

"So how come you guys didn't tell me about Josh?"

I had expected André to be angry but instead, he merely sounded curious, even casual.

"Because it's not important." Cruz replied firmly.

André stared at his friend blankly, half his roll in his mouth. Cruz flinched at the look.

"Aw, come on André," Kale defended. "He's right, everyone's right. You sooo need to get over Ivy, she's not worth it. She never was."

An awkward silence overcame the circle.

"So," I replied, mentally making the awkward turtle. "There's a party at my place this weekend and you're all invited."

An excited turn occurred and people started talking enthusiastically, the rest forgotten by the shallow minds of most.

"Like a partaaay or a 'social'?" Pearl asked.

"What's the difference?" Serena blinked confused at us.

"A social is like a formal thing with parents and all that, while a party is you know. Kids only."

"Well sorry guys, but it's a social. A lot of parents, all your parents in fact." I replied, smiling as the grins on everyone else's face turned into frowns.

"So how come there've been no invites?" Karm asked, picking at a cupcake distantly.

"Well, the thing is," I stared. "My dad's planning it because it was his idea and my mum is enjoying the fact that he has to actually do something. He has to plan the party in five days. Totally ironic but yeah."

"Five days? Plan a party? Your dad?" Kiki and Pearl echoed together before bursting out with laughter. Even Kale who didn't like to make fun of parents cracked a smile.

"Well he's gonna have a lot of problems," Karm said, her raspberry coated lips turning upwards.

"That's a given." Kale said.

"No, I mean, that Saturday night is already booked." Karm assured us. "There's this huge benefit thing that the Lemans are throwing, all our parents have been booked for weeks."

I groaned loudly as this all too true fact hit home. My parents hadn't been invited because well… the Lemans didn't really like us.

"This sucks, we're screwed." I complained bitterly, already thinking of a way to break it to my dad softly.

"No we're not," Pearl declared determinedly. "The Lemans are honestly the snobbish family around. I would love to see the look on their face if no one turned up to their benefit which let's face it, is not benefitting anyone but themselves. I mean, what the hell is the _Californian Institute of Those Who Are Not as Fortunate_? If you're gonna lie you might as well make it believable."

I laughed.

"So what are we gonna do?"

"We're going to send everyone who is anyone an invite to the biggest social of the year. No one is going to want to miss this so everyone will ditch the Lemans." Karm replied confidently. "We need to start planning today."

"Sure," I replied smiling happily.

"My house after school. And that's everyone." Karm commanded.

"Well, if we're going to pull of the biggest social of the year in just five days we're going to need all the help we can get." Pearl answered as everyone stared at Karm in confusion.

"No excuses." Karm added as she stood up and brushed off the invisible specks of dirt on her thousand dollar jacket.

**PLAN OF THE CENTURY **

Have you ever been to a sports game? You know, one of those really big ones where there are crowds bigger than the size of your greater district area? Imagine that; all those people in your backyard. Only, there are not quite that many people and everyone is much better dressed, much much hotter, probably worth more than the crowds and the sport players combined and on a different mission. Oh and also, sober. For the most part anyways. This was the site that greeted Karm, Kiki, Pearl, Kale and I as we stepped through the gates of Karm's house. Most of them were in awe of her house which is a given; even those who tried to act all cool and nonchalant couldn't help but dart glances at the perfection of it all.

"Jeez, how are we going to get everyone through security?" I wondered out loud. Arthur and his small army were already eyeing us warily, one hand on their guns.

"We're not." Karm replied. "Like that would work. We're going to stay out in the garden. Arthur and maybe four others will watch us. Besides, some of them have their own body guards anyways."

We moved into the backyard which should really be referred to as the botanical gardens; it's probably bigger anyways. A table that stretched for miles stood in the centre; it was heaving under the weight of all the snacks ever created. Or so it seemed anyways. Surrounding the big table were many little tables, each equip with paper, pens, computers and a little walkie talkie thing which could be used if anything else was needed. Standing somewhat behind the food table was a gigantic computer screen, otherwise known as an interactive whiteboard. It was all perfect. But this was ruined within seconds as all the guys rushed towards the food table and started to stuff their faces. I grimaced at the animal like sight. Beautiful. Truly Beautiful. We girls, aka the only reason why the earth is still functional and hadn't yet been eaten by boys, gathered around the small tables while Karm and I set to work on creating sub groups. There was the group in charge of Food, Invites, Decoration, Security, Paparazzi/Publicity, Music/Entertainment, Drinks… the list ran on. And then we just put all the guys under the category of 'Lifting.'

It worked. Cruz sauntered over with James, both who had food in their hands.

"So, what are we doing boss? Bosses?"

"Lifting." I replied automatically.

"No," Karm objected. "Actually, since you guys have other specialties, we're going to use those. James; we have a photo shoot to generate publicity. Cruz; you're going to get your parents to make an announcement at the club tomorrow. If they come then the whole club will come. André; you're going to figure out the cost and budgeting. Sean; you're going to make sure all the other guys do their jobs." As Karm went on, Pearl started splitting the girls into categories and Kiki wrote up the jobs for each group on the board.

"Oh and Darcy," Karm called. My head snapped up when I heard his name and wondered what special job Karm could possibly have for him.

"Could you make sure that the Cullens come? Since you're all new, it would be nice if it were kind of a welcoming party too." I was shocked. Did Karm just _ask_ someone to do something?

"Sure," Darcy replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Chey." Karm snapped at me, back to her old commanding self. "Get over here, we need a guest list." I hurried over to where they were all huddled.

"Kiki, Pearl and Kale. You guys make the guest list and Chey and I will make the black list." The other three walked off to a corner and Karm and I settled in her fairy garden. I remember seeing the pictures of Karm as a baby in this garden. God I was so jealous. Sure, I had the best toys and a great garden with a sandpit and all but a fairy garden I did not.

"Alrighty," I said, smoothing out a piece of paper.

"Let's start with the obvious ones." Karm started, a pen poised in her hand. Whoever's name we wrote with that pen would be specially looked out for on the night by the guards; they would also be ruined socially if this social was what we hoped it would be. That is, the biggest social of the year.

"Lemans." I said automatically. Karm rolled her eyes and wrote the family down. Even though they had their own party, when no one showed up (fingers crossed) they would be sure to try and crash ours.

"Jennifer Bash, Arnold Kilm, Lola Permly…." The list of usually party crashers went on and on. Finally, it seemed that we had covered it all.

"..and Ivy Remington." Karm said, finishing off the list with a flourish.

"Ivy?" I asked sceptically. Sure, she was in the bad books at the moment but she was an A-list after all. Black listing her would be just as bad as dropping her down at least two lists.

"Please; we do not want her and Josh there with André." Karm answered as she sealed the list.

"Yeah but Josh is invited." I pointed out.

"So? It's not like they're serious."

I winced slightly at the casualty of it all. Ivy was supposed to be our friend. She wasn't a Diamond and ok, so we were only friends with her because we had to be but still, she was classified as a friend and only weeks ago she would've been given an instant invite to this party. Just like that, Karm ruined everything Ivy had worked for to make it this far. I couldn't help but remind myself for the thousandth time to never get on her bad side.

"Chey, relax." Karm said, misreading my expression. "I'll be the one that will deal with her. You won't have to do anything."

I nodded mutely and mumbled something like 'ok' before heading over to see who the other three had put on the list of much luckier people. All three were bent over a piece of paper and were talking softly yet vigorously at the same time; clearly arguing over something or someone.

"What's up?" I asked as I neared them.

"We were just wondering if we should invite all the families that are originally invited to the Lemans. Some of them aren't close with your family at all so it would be strange if they were invited."

Karm was right behind me and listening intently.

"Invite them all." She ordered. "That won't be a problem because it's also a welcome to the Cullens and the Parkers."

Of course Karm already had it all figured out.

"Karm!" James yelled from behind the waterfall where he was sitting with Cruz, sprawled under a tree. "Get over here!"

I watched carefully as Karm's eyes narrowed into small slits as she stared down her boyfriend. Pearl pulled a face and ran her Flamingo Pink coated nails slowly across her throat. Rule number one – Karm is boss. And no one, not even the A.M of gets to boss the boss around. Even from over fifty miles away, James could clearly feel her iciness.

"Please." He added, waving her over.

"I'm busy," she snapped no more louder than her normal voice but the message was clear. Karm turned her back on James and started talking to Kale about publicity. James sighed, clearly exasperated and waved me over instead. I shot a look at Karm who seemed thoroughly engrossed and walked quickly over to the two boys.

"Hey, what's the problem?" I asked as I plopped down next to them.

"James is smitten, man." Cruz mumbled, picking at the grass. I raised an eyebrow and wondered if that's what they were going to say to Karm; she would be so thrilled.

"No offence Cruz, but you have no right to say anything." I reminded him, remembering Kale's gushing details of their date last night. James grinned, clearly remembering himself.

"If I'm smitten, what are you; married?"

Cruz threw a pissed off look at us and I felt slightly sorry for him.

"Aw, I thought it was sweet." I assured him because after all, we could use more guys like him around. "So what's the problem, seriously?"

"Just wondering how Josh and Ivy are going to be in the same room as André without the man turning suicidal or you know, homicidal." James announced just as casually as his girlfriend had when she ruined Ivy. The thought of André turning into anything but the next president was extremely amusing.

"Don't worry, that won't be a problem." I answered, flinching slightly at the thought of Ivy finding out that she wasn't invited much less black listed.

"And why is that, oh mighty one?" Cruz asked sarcastically, clearly still in a bit of a mood.

"Karm black listed her." I replied, glaring at him. James let out a low whistle and even Cruz looked up in surprise and frowned.

"Well we can't have André getting jailed now can we?" A smooth, silky voice said from behind me. Karm slipped under the shade of the tree and lowered herself next to me.

"That's a little extreme." James said and I was taken back by the disgust in his voice.

"You said it yourself," Karm replied coolly, obviously unaffected. "They can't be in the same room."

"Yeah but black listing Ivy? That's going to ruin her." James said.

Karm did however, react to this.

"Well you'll be there to hold her hand and pass her tissues." She shot at him furiously.

James glowered at her. Cruz and I stared wide eyed at each other.

"What are you, jealous?" James challenged scornfully. Holy shit… I got up as fast as I could and ran before the all mighty Karm bomb could explode. Rule number two – never, ever ever _ever _call Karm jealous, spoilt or conceited. Cruz was right behind me, shaking his head as we both turned to watch Karm let her wrath out on James.

"Brave man," he said softly as James leaned back, regretting what he said.

"Dead man," I disagreed.

"What an idiot." Kale said, stepping in to watch the show.

"Think she'll slap him?" Kiki asked sounding somewhat hopefully. I laughed at her expression.

"Karm doesn't believe in slapping, she thinks it's too cliché." Pearl informed her.

"Come on guys," I said, turning away from the lovers spat. "Let's get back to work; Karm will kill us all if she sees us watching."

Everyone obeyed but they all still shot little glances towards the 'it couple'. Kale, Pearl and I however, were used to seeing these fights and continued to discuss how to pull off this miracle of a social.


	5. Chapter 5

**INCOME THE SIBLINGS**

"Oh my god!" I groaned loudly and threw myself on my bed. It was Friday night and I had

just spent the last 72 hours working my ass off to pull off the social. It was a miracle. We had done it. The Lemans had called off their little benefit due to 'there not being enough money donated to fund it'. Well if no one goes to the benefit, then of course there's going to be no money. On Tuesday night, I had announced to my dad after he had literally begged me to help him that me and my friends would be more than happy to organise it all. My dad gave me his credit card telling me that I could use it limitless as long as I didn't involve him in anyway and that I told mum that he planned it all. I agreed and we even shook on it. So now everything was set for the big social tomorrow. My mum was still sniggering behind my dad's back, expecting the social to be a big flop while my dad was winking oh so subtly behind my mum's back at me; expecting me to pull it off and give him all the credit. Too bad; mum was going to be mad when people starting congratulating my dad for _our _good work. Fine, Karm's good work. When things like these came up, Karm took the chance to reinforce her power and show all of us that true to the bible, we would be lost without her. Never the less, the girl was a genius. In less than two hours, my siblings, the inspiration behind it all, would start showing up and rocking the house. It was hardly time to rest though; there were still a thousand things to worry about. Firstly, the whole Ivy thing hadn't blown over yet which was shocking but was still waiting there like a landmine. My biggest concern was the Cullens. They hadn't gotten back from their hiking trip yet because, as Darcy informed us, they wanted to take advantage of the sunny weather. This however, meant that they might not actually turn up to the party which was also in many ways, their welcoming party. Regardless of all these worries that were making my head pound, I found myself drifting to sleep and my eyelids gave in to the tiredness.

"Hey sleeping beauty."

"Sleeping beauty," a voice snorted. "More like three little pigs."

"Don't be stupid, she doesn't snore." A third voice protested defiantly.

I opened my eyes to the familiar sounds and saw in turn, the three familiar faces of my siblings. All peering down at me curiously. A common reflex of mine kicked in subconsciously and I reached to rub off whatever the hell Dylan had drawn on my face while I was sleeping. The three faces all laughed as I did this and I smiled sheepishly.

"I'm a little too old for that now," Dylan said, hauling me up with a swift pull. "Haven't done that since I was, oh I dunno, like eight or something."

"Yeah well you're still eight in maturity," Amy said, giggling. I laughed and peered around. There they all were; Amy, Dylan and David. My three older siblings whom I had not seen all together in at least a year.

"Oh my god, what time is it?" I asked, rubbing my eyes and trying to spy the time behind David.

"Time to get a watch!" David and Dylan chorused simultaneously. I laughed ridiculously while Amy rolled her eyes and inspected her always perfect nails. For a moment, it seemed like we had warped back to the old days. We had always been close except for, well that one time. But other than that we were close even though we pretended we hated each other. Then my door slammed open and my dad, round faced and grinning broadly burst through, followed by mum, peering carefully through the door.

"My babies!" She crowed, her face lighting up as she ran around and covered them with her lipstick kisses.

"Whoa!" Dylan cried loudly, putting up his hands in defence as mum turned to him, her hands held out. "Not happening!"

It was too late though. Mum's blundering and worrying came pouring out as she hugged him, kissed him and poured out all her thoughts over him. Dylan hadn't been home in at least two years so this was definitely a once in a blue moon thing. I giggled at Dylan's distress; serves him right for being such a shit brother lately. Dad greeted his 'babies' in a much more subtle way, clapping David on the back in congratulation and greeting, hugging Amy and pecking her on the cheek and then he turned to Dylan whom mum had finally released. I tensed slightly. Though mum was more than happy to see Dylan back, dad was somewhat of a different story. He'd watched Dylan nearly destroy this family and it had been he himself who had kicked his youngest son out of the house and presumably, out of the family. Of course, they had seen each other since then and the hatred had dwindled down a few notches but the tension was still present between the two.

"Son," my dad cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Dad," Dylan replied, just as nervous.

Dad made the first move and stepped forward to embrace his son. They did so, awkwardly but never the less, they had closed the gap that was the only thing threatening this family weekend. I closed my eyes and mentally said a thank you.

"Well let's all go downstairs," my mother chimed cheerfully as soon as the embrace was over. "There is so much to hear, I'm sure. We'll have tea, coffee and French pastries."

She was already out the door, shouting orders to Derek in the kitchen. Dad followed her quickly, like he couldn't face his growing older by each day children without the help of his never quiet wife. The four of us looked at each other with a silent understanding and Dylan made the first move out the door and down the stairs. The rest of us followed and conversation between Dylan and David picked up effortlessly. Through their childhood, they had always been close friends and even though ultimately they went down very different paths; their relationship had never changed. I knew that the two spoke at least once a week and this was the one thing that I envied. Dylan could go months without replying any of our worrying calls but he still had the time to contact his brother every week. Amy and I looked at each other, suddenly shy. Unlike our two brothers, Amy and I had never ever bonded like sisters should. Even as a young teenager, I had envied the relationship my friends had with their older sisters who were almost another mother to them. They always told me that they were jealous of the fact that I had two older brothers who were both able to introduce me to their hot friends. Well, I quickly informed them that David wouldn't let any of his friends touch me with a ten foot pole while all Dylan's friends were, well, not my type to say the least. Amy hadn't even helped me through my awkward preteen stage; never helping me get ready for the few dates I had or giving me tips on how to talk to guys or be cool. Since Amy was prom queen herself and the most popular girl in her year level, you'd think she'd have some good advice. But every time I worked up the courage to try and ask her for help, she would wave the mascara wand at me dismissingly, telling me to go ask mum. Gee, thanks for the help big sis.

Funnily, as we grew older we became closer. Still, this didn't mean we could have a heartfelt conversation yet. We continued to smile awkwardly at each other but broke this interaction the minute we reached the bottom of the stairs. Amy scattered to the other side of the room and started to complain about her school photos we still had propped up. Derek was carefully laying out cups of coffee and tea (hot chocolate for me) as well as plates and plates and more plates of so called 'French pastries'. To me though, it just looked like different shaped pieces of bread. And I for one thought that bread was for breakfast only. Breakfast; the meal I hated. Seeing that my mum was distracted, I quickly intercepted Derek on his way back to the kitchen to collect even more bread and ask him to bring out some of last night's cake. He looked sceptically at me and shifted his gaze to my mum.

"Please Derek," I asked him again.

He nodded in one quick movement and continued to the kitchen. I smiled and spun around to find David watching me, his smile a mix of exasperation and tenderness. I winked at him quietly and went to oblige Dylan's desperate 'save me!' glances.

"Hey guys, let's sit down and dig in," I suggested loudly. Everyone took a seat and Dylan was tactful enough not to sit near mum. He hovered awkwardly, trying to decide where to sit since he obviously wasn't too eager to get all chummy with my dad yet either. David nudged the chair next to me subtly and Dylan all too willingly dropped into it.

"For god sakes Dylan," I groaned as he sat next to me and I got a good whiff of his body odour. "Did you bathe in Lynx or something?"

"Hey there's nothing wrong with Lynx," Amy protested avidly.

"Hear, hear." Dylan said happily.

"Wait a minute, where's Kim?" I asked, realising the absence. Surprisingly, I hadn't noticed that she was missing until now; what with her loud voice and all.

"She'll be here soon," David assured me while Derek laid out the rest of the pastries and low and behold my chocolate cake. "She just wanted to do some clothes shopping."

My mum and Amy both exclaimed angrily at the same time; though for different reasons.

"Kim went shopping _without_ me?" Amy cried furiously.

"I thought I told you to get rid of that chocolate cake!" My mum reacted the way I imagined. Derek retreated back to the kitchen as fast as he could while David blabbered on to Amy's fury about how it was just a quick shop.

"Cheyenne," my mother started dangerously.

"Mum seriously, what's the big deal?" I interrupted before it could get any worse. "You know how I feel about the bread. I don't exactly want to watch the rest of you chow away. Stop being such a health freak."

Mum sighed dramatically and glared at the chocolate cake like it was its entire fault.

"That looks fantastic," Dylan said and helped himself to a huge slice under my mum's and now a calmed down Amy's disgusted gaze.

"Do you know how many calories are in that one _bite_?" Amy asked, never averting her eyes.

"Come to think of it Dylan, you do seem more _plump _than you were last year." My mother agreed wholeheartedly.

"Good, I was skinny last year." Dylan smiled at us cheekily with chocolate covered teeth.

"I cannot believe you're 20. That is not right." I murmured incredulously.

"You're telling me," Dylan said, throwing his head back and laughing. "I haven't had the chance to tell you how much you're changed. You're not longer that red faced, acne covered; brace face, lankly kid that you use to be."

"Thanks ever so much." I mumbled through clenched teeth as the rest of my family laughed.

"It's true Chey, you've changed." David agreed, seemingly thoughtful.

"You've become a true young lady," my mother said solemnly as if announcing that we were all about to die. Guess she really did hate seeing her children grow up.

"Definitely future prom queen material," Amy nodded, studying me and analysing my potential. I rolled my eyes at all of them, blushing furiously.

"Hm… I was wondering," she kept going, ignoring my reaction. "You know Jamie has a brother about your age. He's absolutely gorgeous."

I started to protest by saying how I would never go out with a brother of her blonde haired bimbo of a friend when my mother got there before I did.

"Cheyenne already has a boyfriend," mum said, looking at me proudly.

Well, that was just as news to me as it was to the rest of my family. Dylan laughed and wanted to know if he was insane while my dad and David stared on, outraged. My father who had let Amy go out on her first date at the age of 7 started demanding 'just who the hell does this mystery guy think he is corrupting my youngest child, my baby girl?' while David got that big brother look. Amy just wanted to know if he was hot.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I exclaimed, putting my hands up for silence. I turned to shoot laser eyes at my mother who was sitting there innocently. "What are you talking about? I don't have a boyfriend!"

"Oh yes you do honey," my mother said pointedly. "Don't think I didn't see you with that boy at the lake and Chelsea asked me if this plain black _male _T-shirt was your father's and I know for a fact that there is no way your father could fit into it and it's definitely not mine."

"And you didn't tell me?" Amy shrieked, her voice raising four octaves at once again.

"There's nothing to tell," I insisted once again. "Mum, stop being so nosy. I don't have a boyfriend, the guy you saw me with was just a friend and that shirt is nothing. I got wet and some guy lent me his shirt. It meant nothing"

"Nothing means nothing," Amy said wisely.

"Ain't that the truth," David agreed.

"Well this does. Seriously I don't have a boyfriend." I tried to sound as if that was the end of that. Only my dad relaxed slightly and went back to muttering about how he would need a shotgun soon (My dad? With a gun?).

"I want to meet this guy," David said slowly.

"Oh my god, there is no guy!" I exploded.

"Then who's this guy who lends you his shirts and takes you to places like the lake?" David demanded, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"No one," I answered automatically. "Besides, that was two different guys."

I groaned regrettably the second the words were out of my mouth. My dad started complaining loudly once again, my mother looked smug, Amy and David went back to yelling and Dylan was still stuffing his face with cake.

"Ugh!" I cried frustrated and stood up, pushing my chair back. "There's no guy!" I spun around to storm up the stairs and whammed straight into my brother's girlfriend. Kim stood staring at us with one eye brow raised and smiling softly with amusement. Now let's just classify something here. Kim is a social service worker who looks like a model with her soft sun bleached hair that had recently been cut in a very hip, short style. When I had first met her, I had gone psychotic on David. My only sibling who had the same beliefs as me that what mattered was what was on the inside not the outside had just betrayed me. David had sheepishly confessed to me that her looks were part of the reasons why he was going out with her but had been quick to defend himself saying that she was just, if not more pretty on the inside. I told her that that meant that she was an illusion. Unfortunately, Kim had heard me. The very next day, she had dragged me out with her and took me shopping, claiming that we needed to know each other better. Despite my reluctance, I actually enjoyed the day with her thoroughly. David was right; Kim is just as beautiful on the inside. She could've been a model easily and been living the life in Paris but she's not interested in that at all, she's more interested in helping others.

"Kim, hey," my brother greeted her all too happily.

"Hi everybody," Kim called to all of us loudly. "How are you?"

"Hi," we all mumbled uncomfortably. There was nothing wrong with Kim, don't get me wrong. She was loved by everyone in my family, well, except Amy who in my opinion was a little jealous. It was just that she had caught us at a bad moment.

"Is everything ok?" Kim bent down and kissed David. Amy stuck out her tongue and made a disgusted expression at this act. Like I said; jealous. Kim went around and greeted each member of my family and I realised that my plan of escaping to my room could no longer happen without being rude to Kim. So I trudged back to me seat and sat down, waiting for Kim to reach me.

"Hey Chey," she said, bending down and wrapping her arms around me. "How have you been?"

"I'm good Kim, thanks." I smiled at her as she slipped in next to David who casually wrapped his arm around her skinny waist.

"So what have I missed?" She asked us as Derek served her tea.

"Nothing," I replied quickly, willing the rest of the family to not say otherwise.

"Chey has a boyfriend," Amy rejected my silent plea, obviously still angry at me for apparently keeping her in the dark. I scowled furiously.

"Don't be stupid," Dylan argued with her. "She has two boyfriends."

I bit my bottom lip, pushing the china plate away from me before I could throw it at his smug face.

"Really?" Kim looked surprised at me and I blushed and turned away. From the corner of my eye I saw David shaking his head slowly at a confused Kim, mouthing 'I'll tell you later'. Thankfully, Chelsea poked her head in the room slowly and told me that Karm was on the phone for me. I exited the room as fast as I could and thanked Chels furtively.

**SHOPPING WITH THE BEST**

"Karm, you are my legend." I exhaled into the phone.

"Where the hell are you?" She screamed into the phone.

Huh?

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused, mentally running through our conversations.

"You are supposed to be here, right next to me!"

I winced at her venomous snarl.

"Chey," said a more calm voice. "You were supposed to meet as at the mall half an hour ago. Where are you?"

"I was? No one told me that!" I insisted.

"We told your brother like three hours ago and he said he'd tell you." Karm hissed into the phone.

Oh my god…

"Which brother?" I asked through clenched teeth though I already knew the answer.

There was a pause.

"Oh, he's going to get it." A distant Cruz mumbled.

"Dylan I think," Kale answered timidly. "Chey, don't give him a hard time, just get here now, it doesn -"

"I'll be there in ten minutes." I cut her off and hung up.

"DYLAN!" I screamed, storming into the lounge. Everyone jumped and stared at me in shock.

"What?" Dylan asked, stunned for once.

"HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME KARM CALLED?" I was already thundering up the stairs to my room. I could tell that Dylan had actually gone pale at my words. Karm was the one person who scared him shitless.

"I'll drive you right now," he promised, calling from downstairs.

I grabbed my bag and phone and thundered back downstairs. Dylan was waiting for me, keys in hand. David, Amy and Kim were all chuckling, finding the whole situation terribly funny.

"Bye!" I yelled as Dylan and I flew out the door.

"Shit Chey, I'm really sorry." He said as he started up the car. I turned to him.

"Listen Dylan, I really don't care about your apologies. But here's the deal, you are going to get me to the mall as fast as you can and you're going to pay for all the fines you get. Now hit it!"

The acceleration pedal groaned under the sudden pressure as we sped out onto the road.

"Buckle up!" Dylan yelled as he sped up to zoom past a just turning red light. Ok, I'll give him that; he really knows how to drive. We were at the mall in 5 minutes flat even though it usually takes at least 20. Dylan didn't bother to stop as I yanked the door open and jumped out, sprinting through the door.

"Ouch, excuse me!" I pushed past the herds of people and saw all of them standing there. In the busy busy mall, everyone was being jostled and having their feet stepped on. But not my friends. They stood there in the middle of the busiest area and no one stepped within a four mile radius of them; almost as if they had some invisible wall around them. Immediately, I straightened up and tried to slow my breathing. I could hear Karm reminding me that we were out in public and I had to maintain the fearless image that they had established. I walked calmly towards them and didn't even have to push. People saw where I was heading and got out of my way, pronto.

"Hey guys," I greeted them softly. "Really sorry I'm late. I nearly killed Dylan."

"It's fine, not a big deal." Kale shrugged, kissing me on the cheek. I gulped and shot a curious look at Karm. Surprisingly, she didn't look nearly as angry as she had sounded on the phone. I realised that she was snuggled in James' arms. No wonder she wasn't that angry anymore. Guess they had made up; about time.

"That is not happening again," she warned me through a plastered smile as she pressed her lip against my cheek briefly.

"Tell Dylan that," I answered, smiling fakely also.

"Oh, I will." She assured me as we turned to leave the crowded area.

"So what are we doing here anyways?" I asked as we navigated towards the clothes strip.

"Shopping for our outfits for tomorrow night," Pearl answered chirpily. Kiki handed me a paper cut and I drank from it happily; non fat free hot chocolate with a shot of espresso, just what I needed. It was then that I noticed that Darcy was among the crowd. I was taken back by his chocolate eyes as he talked with Cruz. Shopping was reserved for the most inner crowd only. Karm, Kiki, Pearl, Kale, Cruz, James, me and sometimes André were the only ones who came on these shopping trips. It seemed that Darcy was now included in this most inner circle. Maybe we would have an initiation for him. But that never happened with guys. Still, I was astonished at how fast Darcy had become close friends with the boys.

"Where to first?" Kiki sung cheerfully. She was still enjoying the attention she got from being with us and the power she had.

"Versace?" Kale said suggestively. Karm shook her head impatiently.

"Versace is ok for everyday wear and maybe some low profile parties. But this is _the _biggest social of the year, we need something more."

"So where to then princess?" André asked, more like his old self than every before.

"Follow me," Karm said, smiling smugly. She lead us down the main shopping strip where dozens of people who had been lucky enough to be invited to the social were fluttering around the Versace, Dolce and other stores that Karm had just deemed not good enough. They all smiled and greeted us enthusiastically and we smiled back politely. We walked down all the way until we reached a small silver door that no one would know was there unless they _knew_ it was there. Karm opened the door and lead us down another flight of stairs before we reached a tiny little room. It had nothing but a plain white couch and a water station. Then we turned right and the tiny room flared out into the most elegant room I'd seen in my life. The walls were plain white, decorated with soft cream ribbon that was draped around the room and had little heart shaped white lights dangling off them. There were glass cases lined up across the wall and in each one contained an item of clothing that had a piece of majestic velvet draped perfectly over it. There was a long table in the middle which was covered with little glass boxes each containing pieces of jewellery. A woman, no younger than fifty, walked out down a long runway flanked by her no doubt, two daughters.

"Miss Sharman, a pleasure as always." The two embraced quickly before separating.

"What can I do for you and your lovely company?" She asked, smiling faintly at us.

"We're looking for outfits for the biggest social of the year, you know what that means."

The woman nodded understandingly.

"Of course. Now if you young ladies will follow me and the young males, my assistants will take care of you."

Would they ever. The two younger girls seemed more than eager to get their hands on the boys. The woman who announced herself as Priscilla, lead us to one of the many long glass cases while the boys were lead out to another room. She pressed a button and all the velvet cloths moved up; slowly exposing the absolutely breathtaking gowns they had covered. Each gown made even Cinderella's evening gown look like a dirt rag. We all gasped in awe and moved around the room, pressing our hands against the glass as if we couldn't quite believe the dresses were there. Even for us, this was an all new experience. Well except for Karm who didn't looked fazed at all and wondered around casually, looking at each dress and expecting it from different sides. We followed suit and I wondered how I would ever chose.

Karm was first to select her trials. A brilliant metallic blue dress that looked like something from the ocean itself. Personally, I thought it was a little too much but when Karm stepped out with it on, I couldn't suppress my gasp. The dress clung onto her every curve but once it passed her hip, it flared in small soft ruffles that made the dress uneven and her legs seem endless.

"Well?" She asked us, examining herself in the mirror and pulling her hair back.

"Oh my god," I exhaled softly.

"Karmello bear! You're such a babe!" Kale shrieked, moving to her side.

"Wow, wow, wow…" Kiki murmured softly.

Pearl simply whistled.

"Seriously?" She asked us, still staring at her reflection.

"If I hear doubt in your voice one more time while you're wearing that dress, I'll personally feed you to the lions." Kale scowled at Karm, shaking her head.

Karm laughed and turned to us.

"Guess I'm getting this one then," she said, grinning and looking uncharacteristically unlike herself. She stepped back into the change room that was more the size of a small apartment. Compared to Karm's dress, the other gowns that were once the most beautiful things I'd ever seen now seemed like nothing. There was another room filled with more dresses and Kiki and Pearl both found their dresses quickly after. Pearl had chosen a short and playful black dress that stopped halfway down her thighs.

"Excuse me but a lot of hot available guys are going to be there and I'm on the market." Pearl snapped at Kale when she tutted at the length.

Kiki had opted for a more elegant look. A classic white dress that went past her knees which would have been quite boring but it had a neckline that plunged down to her waist. They both looked so amazing; both would definitely turn some heads. Kale was tossing up between two very different gowns. One was a short, hot pink bubble dress that had the most extraordinary button patterns that lined either side. It was a risky choice but she could pull it off with the right accessories and shoes. The other was a long silver dress that trailed behind her but cut off just above her ankles at the front. I thought the silver one was better along with Kiki but Karm and Pearl both urged her to go for the shorter one.

"We'll help you pick out the accessories and shoes; you'll totally pull it off." Karm assured her.

"Cruz will definitely like the pink one better," Pearl giggled. In the end, Kale decided on the pink one which left just me. At this point, Karm, Kiki and Pearl were all good to go and had even chosen their accessories. Kiki and Pearl were helping Kale choose shoes and Karm was wondering around with me.

"Come on Chey, there's got to be something you like here," she said as we lapped the rooms once again. I sighed.

"They're all beautiful, but nothing stands out."

I was losing hope.

"Hey," Darcy entered the room abruptly.

"Get out!" Kiki screeched. We had agreed at the beginning that the guys were not allowed in here and we weren't allowed into their section.

"Sorry," he apologised sheepishly. "They sent me in here to see if you were done yet."

"Yeah, we're all finished, except for Chey," Karm replied. "You guys all done?"

"Yep," Darcy said, holding up a coat hanger that was covered with a black cover.

"Haven't found anything you like?" He asked me as Karm went to answer one of Kale's shoe worries.

"No, I like them all. I just can't find anything I love." I answered.

"Maybe we should try a different shop," he suggested.

I shook my head.

"I can feel that this is the right place, if you know what I mean."

We walked around in silence for a while.

"What about this one?" Darcy said, stopping silently. The gown was one that I had passed numerous times and I had barely looked at it. Compared to the other ones, it was rather plain. It was a black dress, tinted with tiny small specks of gold. It was more ivory to think about it. I shrugged.

"I think it would suit you," he said quietly.

"Wouldn't hurt to try," Kale called from across the room.

I shrugged again, "Guess not."

I asked Priscilla to open the case for me and I walked with the dress into the change rooms. The material was incredibly soft and as I slipped into it, it suddenly felt right. It fitted me perfectly, as if it were made for me. Suddenly, I couldn't bear to look at my reflection. The dress was so glamorous and perfect; I could tell I looked like an idiot in it. There was no way I could pull it off.

"I don't like it," I called out.

"Come out and show us!" Karm commanded.

"I don't wanna," I mumbled softly, my back still turned to the mirror which was hard considering how big it was.

"Out here now! Darcy's gone!" Pearl called. I sighed and reluctantly stepped out of the change room. I kept my eyes shut and held my breath; I felt utterly exposed, like I was naked or something. There was complete silence. The minutes ticked by and I couldn't bare it.

"Whoa…" a voice said, breaking the silence.

"Can I get out of this already?" I said my voice shaking and my eyes still closed.

"Chey, open your eyes," Kale whispered.

"No," I argued, shaking my eyes and squeezing my eyelids even closer.

I felt hands close over my shoulders and spin me around carefully.

"Open your eyes you idiot," Karm ordered but without the usual spite in her voice. I sighed and covered my eyes with my hands. Slowly, I opened one of my eyes though I couldn't see much because of my fingers. Karm sighed, exasperated and yanked my hands off my face. I froze as I was confronted by a girl, staring straight back at me with her eyes open in shock. She wore a halter neck black dress that was as dark as the night but had specks that shined like the stars. It clung onto her like it was part of her skin and ended just above her knee, still clinging onto her like plastic; moulding itself in her exact shape and exposing her long neck.

"Is that me?" I gasped and the imagine gasped back.

"You are stunning Chey," Kiki murmured slowly.

"Seriously goddess like," Kale agreed.

"Yummy," Pearl said giggling quietly and breaking the spell.

"Wow that is not me." I said in awe, staring at the mirror.

"Girls, you're taking so long that by the time you do eventually get out it'll be a new ice age - ….whoa." James had walked in and was now staring at me, his mouth open in shock.

"Doesn't she look amazing?" Karm said, fluttering around me with jewellery and holding random necklaces up to my neck.

"Yeah," he replied, still staring at me.

I blushed and looked away.

"Who knew you were such a beauty?" Kale said, paying for her items.

I laughed.

"Give us half an hour," Karm promised, kissing James quickly.

"Sure thing," he turned and left the room.

**CLOUDS AND STARS**

True to our word, we were out the store in half an hour, our arms loaded with our new clothes, shoes and accessories. The boys were lounging around the door frame and each girl that past flipped their hair and giggled crazily. Karm marched right up to James and pressed her lips against his in a soft but passionate embrace; Kale followed her lead and soon the girls were gone.

"Here, hold will you?" Karm said, holding out her bags to him and smiling slightly at James in a way that he couldn't refuse. We walked outside of the mall and before I knew it, James and Karm had snuck off as well as Kale and Cruz. That left Darcy, André, Kiki, Pearl and me. Pearl was quick to leave, blowing us all a kiss and getting into her black convertible. André offered to give Kiki a lift home and she agreed quickly, we hugged and then they were gone. Darcy and I walked quietly along the park.

"It's the perfect sky," I said, sighing in ecstasy as I stared at the sky.

"Not really," Darcy disagreed gently, "there's still some clouds."

"You think a perfect sky is one that is all blue, no clouds?" I asked him, turning around to face him.

"Yeah, that's a perfect day."

"I think a perfect day is one with half blue and half clouds."

"Why do you think that?" Darcy asked him curiously. I struggled to explain.

"Here, lie down with me." I pulled his jumper and he sat down on the grass with me. I lay down and slowly, I felt him lower his body near mine until we were lying side by side. I ignored the feeling of my arm against his and our bodies so close that I could hear his heart beat, feel his warmth…

"Look at the clouds; I think clouds are part of the perfect day because I love cloud gazing. It relaxes me." I explained.

"Like, that one looks like a whale." I said, pointing to a fluffy white cloud.

"See, that one looks like a fluffy wad of cotton," Darcy said, pointing as well. I frowned but a giggle escaped my lips.

"If you actually let go and just use your imagination, it's so much fun."

"That one's a leaf falling from a tree," I pointed out numerous images the clouds were creating to me.

"That one looks like a shark eating seaweed," Darcy said, grinning. I cocked my head but I couldn't see it.

"See, that bit, that's the mouth and the bits coming off it are his teeth. And that random cloud floating there is the seaweed." He pointed to different clouds but to me, they still seemed like a kitten playing with string.

"No, it doesn't," I disagreed.

"The clouds moved so it doesn't anymore," Darcy replied, laughing.

"Sure they did," I said teasingly.

We were silent for a while and I watched the clouds move so slowly but perfectly; drifting to another place. I closed my eyes and drifted with the clouds. Suddenly, I felt Darcy stiffen beside me and before I could even open my eyes, he was sitting up straight.

"Hello Darcy, Chey." A voice of melted chocolate almost seemed to purr.

I flew up and my eyes landed on the Cullen family. All of them, except Esme and Carlisle.

"Oh, hi," I stuttered.

My god, they looked like a Photoshop family. Really. They were all so perfect in appearance. Alice and Jasper held hands and Emmett had his arms around Rosalie. Edward stood alone, staring down at us. I felt the red creep up to my cheeks as his eyes bore into me. Then I brightened.

"You guys are back!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah we are," Emmett laughed effortlessly.

"So you'll be at the social won't you?" I held my breath and crossed my fingers.

"Of course, all of us will." Edward reassured us.

"Been shopping?" Alice asked casually, nodding at the bags which lay next to us.

"Yeah, for the social."

"The clouds sure have moved in haven't they?" Edward commented looking up at the clouded sky.

"Yeah," I agreed and then said another silent prayer that there would be no rain tomorrow. It was an inside event but if the weather was good enough, we could let the guest wonder outside. Besides, rain made everyone grumpy. Darcy got up and stretched out his hand to help me up.

"Where are you guys parked?" Emmett asked; his voice deep but the sound of bells all the same.

"The main one, down the left side," Darcy answered.

"Same," Alice trilled in her soprano voice.

Without a word, we all started walking in the direction of the cars. I started to talk to Alice about art as we walked. Jasper talked with Emmet and Rosaline but kept Alice's hand in his all the time. Darcy and Edward were walking alongside us but both had their hands in their pocket and were leaning in, talking intently between the two of them only. Edward seemed to glide while Darcy's foot steps scattered the pebbles around him. We reached the main car park and I just followed the rest of them. Darcy's laugh caught my attention and I saw Edward's heart stopping smile. It was clear that the two of them were extremely close friends.

"Was the Jeep really necessary Emmett?" Darcy called to the mountainous figure.

"I was driving and I like the power," Emmett called back, grinning widely. The jeep was really extraordinary. It had huge head bars and was about the size of an elephant.

Darcy's laugh echoed with Edward's musical laugh and the sound stunned me.

"Would you like a ride home Chey?" Alice asked me delicately.

I glanced at the jeep again and gulped. Darcy seemed to sense my distress and chuckled, coming to my rescue.

"I might as well give her a lift as we're neighbours." He suggested gently, reaching for my arm. Emmett and Rosaline stepped into the car but not before Rosaline shot me a glare that send shivers up my spine. Darcy's hand tightened around mine and Edward seemed to growl at his sister. Emmett shut them both up with an amused shrug and a chuckle; I wondered if Rosaline's bitchiness was part of why Emmett loved her so much. Really, they were exact opposites. Alice and Jasper both smiled goodbye and slipped into the back seat. Edward clapped Darcy on the shoulder and winked at me quickly before leaping gracefully into the back seat with his siblings. The jeep roared to life and they were out of the car park like that. Darcy led me to his more socially acceptable black Mercedes and we pulled out much more slowly.

"Did you know that Edward drives like a maniac?" I asked him, thinking of the last time I was in the car with him.

"Yes, I know," Darcy replied, smiling. "Everyone in his family is like that; they all enjoy the speed."

"You don't say," I mumbled. "Well at least you drive normally." Darcy's laugh echoed off into silence as we drove along. We stopped at a red light and suddenly, an angry gasp caused me to turn to the car next to us. And there she was. Chicago; the leader of the Three Cities. She was in her own convertible and was staring at me and Darcy in fury. I knew how it looked. Shopping bags in the back seat and Darcy and I in the front. Alone. It was common knowledge that Chicago had a major crush on Darcy; I mean, even he knew.

"Oh boy," Darcy muttered softly.

He raised his hands meekly in a way of greeting.

"Do you like her?" I whispered softly.

Darcy didn't say anything which I think said it all. I reached over and put my hand on his chest. I leaned in and whispered softly in his ear. I could feel a slow smile creeping across his face as he listened to what I had to say. I sat back in my chair and pretended to notice Chicago for the first time. I opened my eyes wide in innocent surprise.

"Oh, hey Chicago."

I swear to god, I thought she was going to leap through her convertible onto me and strangle me to death. Luckily, the lights turned green and Darcy hit the gas and we zoomed forward leaving Chicago in the dust. I couldn't help bursting out into laughter the minute we were moving again. Then I paused to check out Darcy's expression, maybe he didn't find it as amusing as I did. He was frowning down at me but his twinkling eyes gave him away; this confirmation sent me into peals of laughter again. This time he joined in and his deep laughter harmonising with mine.

"Wow, I don't think I should go to school on Monday," I said seriously. "She was already pissed off enough that we black-listed her and now, she's going to be mad at me for stealing you too!"

Darcy's expression changed into something quite different, he suddenly seemed quite solemn.

"What's wrong?" I asked, worried.

"You've stolen me?" He asked softly, staring deep into my eyes.

"Oh," I started. "Well, I don't know." This time, it happened much different than the first time. We moved more slowly and this time, I didn't even hesitate. Ever since I had lain down with him in the park and our arms had touched, I had wanted to kiss him. I moved towards him first, pressing my lips hard against his. I felt him flinch in surprise before relaxing. We both melted into the kiss and I ran my fingers through his hair as his arm clenched around my waist. I sighed and moved closer to him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Oi! Move it!" Someone yelled from behind, startling us both. We sprung apart and I realised that at least ten cars were lined up behind us, beeping angrily and telling us to move since the light had turned green without our knowledge. Darcy raised his hand in apology and put his car in drive. We drove to our neighbourhood in silence and soon, we were there. Darcy parked the car quietly and the minute the engine died, I couldn't help but reach him for once again. His lips grazed my cheek and moved its way to my lips. I sighed happily as he pulled me closer.

"Ouch!" I yelped and pulled back, glaring angrily at the stupid handle in the middle that had just jammed into me and broken our kiss. Darcy laughed.

"I'll walk you to your door."

We both got out of the car and I shivered in the bone rattling wind that was whistling loudly. In just half an hour, the clouds we had been staring at earlier were no longer as visible against the blackness of the night sky. The stars shined brightly and reminded me of the dress that lay in a bag fastened to my wrist. My stomach churned over again as the thought of the social re entered my mind.

"What are you thinking about?" Darcy asked softly.

"The social," I replied truthfully. "You and Edward both seem to be very interested in what I'm thinking about."

"You get this look, like you're very deep in thought," he informed me. "It makes us both curious."

Oh, so they do talk about me behind my back. Fab.

We reached my door step and I turned to face him. I remembered how Edward's pale skin had looked in the street light, how it was quite literally luminous. Darcy's tan skin could never compare but the light did light up his other features. I took in his sharp jaw, framed eyes and the way that everything just seemed to fit and belong. His eyes were shining more than ever and showed me that he was much happier than when I first met him. And his lips, they were… well they were on mine again. I closed my eyes and all my thoughts flew out the door. My icy fingers pressed against the warmth of his neck and the heat seemed to warm my whole body which immediately stoped shaking. We pulled away briefly to catch our breath and Darcy touched my cheek softly, staring deep into my eyes. I smiled and leaned into him, his grip tightening around me. Finally, the moment was perfect. There was no car handle or angry drivers to interrupt us. I kissed him again, savouring the moment as best I could. I tried to pay attention to his smell, his feel, his looks, everything. But in the end, all I could concentrate on was his lips.

"Oh my god!"

I jumped; the red already at my cheeks. I tried to push Darcy off but his arm stayed firmly around me. I spun around to face Amy and Dylan who were both standing there, staring at us.

"Sorry, we didn't mean to interrupt, just throwing out the trash." Amy said hurriedly. "Just carry on, pretend nothing happened." She dragged Dylan, who was still gaping at us, around the back to the bins.

"I'm so sorry, again." I groaned to Darcy. He smiled and pulled a stray piece of hair off my face, tucking it behind my ears.

"It's fine, Chey. I should probably go home anyways."

"Oh, ok."

Darcy lent in to kiss me goodnight on the cheek but I turned and caught him on the lips. We kissed for a minute before breaking apart. I blushed furiously.

"Sorry," I apologised. Darcy laughed softly.

"Don't apologise."

Well, in that case…

After a while, Darcy gently pulled away and checked his watch.

"Time to go?" I asked breathlessly.

"Yeah, time to go."

I sighed disappointedly, causing him to chuckle.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he promised.

"Ok," I nodded eagerly.

Darcy lent down and brushed his lips against mine quickly.

"Oh shit, sorry."

I squeezed my eyes shut. Oh my god. This could not be happening.

"We were just looking for Amy and Dylan, they've been gone a while. They were throwing out the trash, uhm sorry." Kim mumbled quickly from behind for both her and my brother who was still frozen, shell shocked.

"That's ok, I was just leaving." Darcy hugged me quickly. "See you tomorrow Chey, nice meeting you," he nodded towards Kim and David.

"Sorry," he mouthed at me apologetically. I shook my head, telling him it wasn't his fault as he walked down the driveway and to his house briskly. Uhoh.

"You've got to be kidding me," David exploded the minute Darcy's house door was closed with him safely behind it. Lucky him.

"David please, you don't want to disrupt your parents." Kim warned him. Oh, the hell he better not.

"Can we come out now?" Amy called from around the corner of the house.

"Yeah, why not?" I mumbled. "Come out, enjoy the show."

Amy and Dylan emerged wearing completely different expressions. Amy's face glowed as bright as the moon, her eyes eager with excitement, ready to beat the answers of her questions out of me. Dylan on the other hand looked annoyed and humoured at the same time. Annoyed because he had to hide behind the bins and watch his youngest sister make out and amused because, well, I was about to pay for annoying him.

"Oh my god Chey!" Amy squealed, running up to me and jumping excitedly.

"Uh, Amy…" Kim said quietly. Amy spun around to see David glowering at the both of us, beyond furious.

"Aw, come on David get over it. Chey has done so well! He's such a hottie!"

Hearing Amy's words made him almost choke in anger. Dylan snickered to himself but shut up the minute David opened his mouth.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Cheyenne?" He was whispering to stop mum and dad from hearing but his fury was evident.

"So what?" Amy said, defending me before I could even open my mouth. "Big deal David, so she has a boyfriend. About time if you ask me. She's a big girl and besides, did you not see how hot he was?" She squealed happily again, being the good big sister for the first time.

"How can you say that Amy?" David demanded. "She's only 16 and that boy, he looks much older."

"16 is pretty damn old to have your first boyfriend," Amy informed him again before I could even react. "I had my first one way before and older men are sexy."

"That's exactly my point!" David exclaimed. "Look how you turned out! I am not letting Chey go down the same path."

I winced and quickly examined Amy's reaction. It didn't seem like she really cared. She exhaled angrily and rolled her eyes.

"You're too protective David, you didn't care that much when you caught Jim and me and we were only 14. Besides, you can hardly talk. You had you're first girlfriend when you were 15."

David reddened slightly.

"That's different," he huffed.

"Of course it is," Amy said smugly. "Plus, if I remember correctly, she was younger than you too."

"Chey, you have to be careful," Kim spoke up timidly but seriously. "There are some good guys out there but some bad ones too, can you trust that boy you were with or is he going to hurt you?"

"I don't know," I said quickly before Amy could talk before me again. "Look, I don't even know it we're serious. We just had one kiss, it wasn't even a date. I like him but that's it, it's not a big deal. Just a crush."

"Just a crush," Dylan laughed heartily. "Were you referring to the action of your lips?"

I clenched my hands into fists, wanting to physically hurt him not for the first time today.

"It didn't look like just a kiss," David said indigently, ignoring Dylan's comment.

"Well it was, for god sakes I'm only 16!" I exclaimed getting annoyed. "It's not like we're getting married. I'm allowed to kiss a guy already!"

"She's right, you know." Kim said, touching David's arm. "She's old enough to do what she wants."

"Exactly," Amy agreed though it looked like it pained her to be on the same side as Kim.

"Good, well now that that's settled, we should go back inside." Kim said a matter of factly. "You're parents are going to be concerned."

"You're telling me everything." Amy whispered in my ear threatingly as we all trudged back into the house.

"My word, you all spent ages outside." My mother said as we entered the lounge room where our parents sat. "I was about to send Chelsea out to look for you." She stopped and blinked, realising that more came in than the number that went out.

"Oh, you're back Cheyenne. Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah, I did." I replied.

"Yes dear, not '_yeah_'. What did you buy?" My mum asked me, staring at my big white bags that gave away not even the shop name. Amy's eyes lit up as she noticed them for the first time.

"Just my outfit for the social." I shrugged, making my way upstairs. "I'll be right back."

I walked up the stairs and into my room, putting the bags softly on my bed. I slowly reached into one and felt shivers as my hand touched the soft material of my brand new dress.

"Show me," Amy commanded from behind. I groaned; I should've known I couldn't lose her. She locked the door behind me and sat on my bed. I knew I didn't have a choice but to show her; she was much like Karm in that particular way. Gingerly, I pulled out my dress and held it up to show her.

"Cool," Amy stood up and moved closer to inspect it. "Wow, it's pretty Chey."

"Thanks," I replied, happy to have her approval.

"Where'd you get it?" She asked curiously.

"Uhm, I actually don't know." I answered, realising that I didn't actually have the stores name. "Karm took us to this neat little shop in the mall, it was just this tiny little silver door but they have the most amazing clothes."

"Ahh…" Amy said, nodding wisely. "That place. You're not supposed to talk about it."

"You know it?" I asked surprised. Amy giggled and sat back down.

"Of course I know it. Everyone like you and me know it."

People like you and me? What did that mean?

"No offence, but if you went there you could've picked a better dress." Amy said, wrinkling her nose.

"It looks better on me," I snapped quickly without thinking.

Hey, no bagging my dress. Amy shrugged.

"Guess so."

Then her eyes flashed excitedly.

"So, tell me everything about your new BF!"

"He's not my boy…." I trailed off meekly.

"Not your boyfriend!" Amy snorted disbelievingly.

I groaned and collapsed back into my pillow.

"Let's face it Chey, there's no getting out of it. Tell me everything."

"There's not much to know." I spoke into my pillow. "His name is Darcy and you can find out everything else you want to know tomorrow at the social."

"Ohh… I'm so excited about the social!" Amy exclaimed, eyes shining and completely distracted.

"Really?" I asked the pillow again.

"Totally," Amy nodded enthusiastically. "And by the way, we all totally know that you and your little friends are the real planners. Not dad."

I sprung up, wild eyed and shocked.

"What? Oh my god, does mum know?"

"Of course not," she replied, rolling her eyes.

I breathed a sigh of relief and plopped back into my cushiony bed.

Amy tutted and I smiled silently while the bed creaked as she got up to leave, giving up hope on drilling me (for now). My eyelids dropped slowly and my whole body relaxed into the mattress.

If only.

"WHAT THE HELL!" I screamed; all the relaxation of my body turning into tense muscles. My door had flown open almost slamming into Amy who was about to leave and in strode my two brothers with Kim scattering guiltily in behind them.

"Cheyenne, we need to talk." David's eyes seemed to be permanently narrowed.

"Go away," I muttered, falling back into my bed, promising myself that this would be the last time.

"I don't like the look of that boy."

David's voice was nothing but a far muffled cry to my pillow buried ears; still, his words brought annoyance back to my body.

"Honestly David, he's fine. I mean, he's ho…" Amy started defiantly.

"Hot yes I know," David interrupted dismissingly. "But there's something about him that I just don't trust."

"You don't need to trust him for her to go out with him," Amy argued irritably.

"She doesn't even need to trust him to go out with him," Dylan spoke up arrogantly, laughter evident in his voice. "Some girls are just plain stupid."

"Well you would think so. That's the only reason that you get any dates." I mumbled.

"What was that Chey?" David snapped.

I was pissed off now. What does a girl have to do to get to sleep?? The night before the biggest social that SHE is throwing of the year??

I lifted my head the slightest bit off my pillow and looked through blurred (but angry) eyes at my siblings that I was no longer so thrilled to have back.

"Oh my lord, go away! Can you not see I'm trying to sleep?" My voice started furiously like I hoped but ended in a babyish whine. Since I was already whining, I might as well have my full tantrum.

"I have a socailll to throw tomorrow if you don't miiinddd, now I'm tryinggg to sleeepppp, so goo awaaaaaayyy!!"

I might as well have been five and annoyed at my mum for buying whole bran cereal instead of fruit lops. Just like my mum though, my siblings were unmoved.

"Jeez, no need to be a drama queen." Amy said, rolling her eyes. "We're going, all you had to do was ask."

If I wasn't as tired as I was, I would've gotten up and reminded her how many times I had actually asked. Luckily, everyone got the hint and exited the room quietly.

"Night Chey, try not to wake me up with your snoring." Dylan called. The last sound I heard before sleep took over was the sound of my pillow slamming against the door; narrowly missing Dylan's face.

_I could feel his pain. I echoed his screams of agony. I tasted the trash in his mouth, stuffed there to muffle the sound. I saw in his eyes, the funeral for him proceed down the street. I heard with his ears, his father and mother's heartbroken cries. All this was blocked out, when I felt him transform. And with him, as did I. I smelt blood with his nose. I felt the hunger and desperation shoot through his body. I felt his muscles lock into place as he jumped. I moved as him while he sprung, landing on the first solid thing. I listened as him while the solid thing screamed; a mixture of pure fear and pain. Then I lost all my senses as him as my teeth, his teeth plunged deep down into the neck and the taste of blood sent shivers up our spines. Then, all was silent. The solid thing, motionless; even the smell of blood was gone as it was completely consumed. I stared through his eyes at the girl, no older then twelve, dead because of me. I understood with his mind that he had become a monster, I had become a monster. And with that I fled, running faster than a gunshot as the rising sun revealed to the world what we'd done. _

My gasping breaths filled the deadly silent house. I fumbled for the lights and as my room illuminated, my heart slowed down while my brain caught up. I threw my face against the pillow to muffle my scream. The clock beeped to the hour; it was three. No way was I closing my eyes ever again. Just a dream, I told myself. It was just a dream. But the truth still stayed put in my mind, this dream linked in perfectly with all the others. None of it made any sense. Shakingly, I got out of bed and went downstairs to get a drink. I didn't even bother to turn on the lights to the kitchen as I got up on my tipity toes to reach for a cup. The water calmed me down; almost as if there was a fire in me and now it was going out. That is until I was blinded by a sudden light. The kitchen lights had been flipped on and the glow had lit up everything in the kitchen. My cup smashed onto the floor and my mouth opened to let loose a blood curling scream. A hand clamped over my mouth and I nearly choked. I struggled frantically against it, trying to grab a piece of flesh with my mouth to bite.

"Chey, it's me!" A voice whispered almost pleadingly. "Stop struggling!" The hand let go of my face and I tried to scream but no noise came out because my voice was so hoarse.

"Chey, it's David. Just relax!"

Sure, sure it's David. Wait a minute, it sounded like David though. And oh crap, it sure looked like David. Even with my fist against his face, he still looked like David. Only, really pissed off now. Oops.

"Ow!"

"Crap! Sorry David!"

"Chey, why the hell did you just punch me?"

"David! Why the hell did you scare the crap out of me like that?"

I nearly threw the ice pack at him because even though he was getting a black eye, I was still pissed at him.

"Well I'm sorry," David said angrily, pressing the ice pack against his face. "I didn't know that putting my hand around your mouth to stop you from waking everyone up was going to get you to go all Jackie Chan on me."

"You scared me! You flicked on the lights so suddenly and then you stoped me from calling for help! That's what murderers do!"

"You watch too much CSI," David muttered, touching his face and then wincing.

"It's NCIS and I do not!" I pulled the ice pack away so I could examine his face. It wasn't that bad, just a little bruising and swelling.

"What are you doing out here anyways?" David demanded.

"I was getting some water, Sherlock Holmes!" I snapped, feeling like punching him again. "What were you doing here?"

"I was…." He stopped and suddenly looked embarrassed.

"What?" I ask suspiciously. "Tell me!"

"I..." he hesitated then sighed. " I saw your lights go on and thought maybe you were sneaking out to see that boy… don't hit me!"

"Sneaking out?" I hissed angrily, but dropped my hand. "As if I would sneak out!"

"I'm sorry Chey," David apologised fretfully, "I guess I just got caught up. Seriously, I don't doubt you like that. It's just about what happened last night; I didn't think you would be like that either."

"You didn't think I would ever find a boyfriend?" I asked, hurt. "Thanks David."

"Not that, I just didn't think… well I don't know what I thought. I didn't expect to see you with your tongue down a guy's throat anytime soon that's for sure."

"David," I said exasperatedly, throwing my arms up. "I'm sixteen!! It's about time I had a real boyfriend!"

"I know, I know," David admittedly painfully. "But, well, I guess you're still my baby sister. I'm still used to you being the little girl who pulled a face every time someone said the word love."

I blanched without even thinking about it and David laughed.

"Well at least you haven't changed that much." He seemed so sad though, so nostalgic.

"David, I will always be your little sister. But I'm not a baby anymore; you gotta get use to that." I told him, feeling like a psychologist.

"Guess so," he said, shrugging unwillingly.

He sighed and dropped the ice pack down and winced again.

"Sorry about that," I said, feeling bad about it for the first time.

"Don't worry, guess I deserved it."

"Hey," I said, trying to find the silver lining. "At least you know your baby sister knows how to throw a mean right hook."

David smiled ruefully.

"Well growing up with two older brothers, that's pretty guaranteed isn't it?"

I stuck my tongue out at him and we both laughed before falling silent. Finally, there was no more anger though, he was back to being my favourite sibling.

"David," I whispered softly. "I'll never do what Amy did. You know that, I couldn't put you guys through that."

David's face twisted in pain as he remembered.

"I know," he whispered back, eloping me into a hug. I hugged him back, willing the lump in my throat back down. David smiled at me and I smiled back tearfully.

"Come on," he said, letting me go. "I'll tuck you in."

We trotted up the stairs and into my room and I jumped into bed.

David made a big show of tucking me in like he used to when I was actually a baby.

"Night Chey," he said, kissing me softly on the forehead.

"Night David!" I called back cheerfully. David left the room and switched off the lights. This time when my eyes closed, I didn't dream.

**THE DAY OF**

My first thought of the day was 'Oh my god, it's the social!' My second thought was 'SHIT! It's the social!' My clock read ten am meaning that everyone else was probably already awake. I threw on some trackies and a jacket and ran down stairs without even brushing my hair.

"Hey sleepy head," Chelsea greeted me as I trudged down. "Everyone's having breakfast outside."

"Thanks Chels!" I called as I pushed the door open and ran out. There was absolutely no sunlight. Instead, massive clouds blocked out every inch of blue. At least the weather was warm and the clouds weren't grey. My family was situated in the middle of the garden, eating a feast on the table. I couldn't help but smile at the sight of _all_ of my family even little Muffins, my dog, was being included (if putting your head on each family members lap in turn, hoping for some food meant being included).

"Hey Chey!" Everyone greeted me.

"Hi!" I sung as I skipped over to the plates heaped with food. I sat next to David, silently telling everyone that our little feud was over. I glanced at his eye quickly and was relieved to see that it was barely noticeable. Guess my right hook wasn't so mean after all.

"You excited about the social or what?" Amy cried excitedly, doing a little dance.

"Excited and nervous," I admitted through a mouthful of cereal.

"Cheyenne, you slept late today," my mother said disapprovingly.

"Not as late as Dylan," my dad pointed out.

I smiled; of course Dylan was still asleep.

"He's basically nocturnal." I agreed.

"Well he has to be woken up soon," my mum said dabbing at her lips with a napkin that probably cost more than my bowl of cereal, bowl included. "We shall be leaving soon."

"Leaving where?" I asked curiously.

My mother huffed annoyingly.

"Cheyenne I thought you of all people would have guessed, the social was your idea after all."

"Sorry mum, I still don't get it," I sighed.

"Shopping!" Amy squealed happily. "We're all going shopping for our outfits for tonight."

"All of you?" I gulped, this couldn't be good.

"All of us," my mother confirmed firmly.

"Unfortunately," Dad muttered quietly.

My mother ignored him and checked her watch dramatically. Kim smiled slightly and David shook his head.

"Really, we should get going. Perhaps someone should wake Dylan up."

"I'll do it!" I volunteered gleefully, pushing my chair back and jumping at the opportunity to do no doubt one of my favourite activities that I hadn't been able to do for a while now.

Waking Dylan Up.

"You won't want to miss this," David promised Kim as he led her after me.

Amy was also right next to me as we marched up the stairs. She grabbed a jug of water from the kitchen, a devilish grin stretched across her face. I rushed to my room and grabbed my old recorder as well as my phone. Slowly, Amy and I pushed open the door to Dylan's room while David and Kim followed us, Kim looking confused but excited. I gagged as the smell of all kinds of BO hit my nose; even David couldn't suppress pulling a face. Amy gestured towards the curtain and David crept towards it, leaving Kim standing carefully in the corner, observing the massive lump on the bed. Amy winked at me and held up one, then two and then three fingers. I held the recorder to my mouth at one, inhaled deeply at two (nearly died doing this on accord of the smell) and then blew with all my might at three. At three, my squeaky badly played high pitched recorder sound echoed throughout the room and David pulled hard at the curtains, filling the room with blinding sunlight. Kim continued to observe curiously; the lump did nothing but shrink together tighter. Amy rolled her eyes, picked up the jug of water and winked again. I grabbed my phone. One, two, three… this time David counted and on three, water splashed out the jug and all over the lump. And the sound of Britney Spears screeching 'Toxic' replaced my recorder playing.

This time, the lump sat up straight and Dylan stared at us, his eyes wild with annoyance, his hair matted all over his face and his clothes soaked.

"RUN!" I yelped and bolted for the door, stumbling all over Amy who was doing the same thing. We collapsed all over each other as we fled down the stairs, falling in a heap at the bottom, laughing like hyenas. David and Kim who has also sprinted from Dylan's room were staring at us, both also with smiles on their faces.

"I'll kill you all," Dylan's still sleepy threat drifted down the stairs towards us and funnily, brought only more laughter.

"Come on, you silly girls," David said pulling us up teasingly. "Let's get in the car before Dylan gets down."

Amy and I didn't need to be told twice; we managed to get up without tripping over each other and galloped towards the shiny black Mercedes waiting for us. Mum and dad have already left with Phil driving them so Amy and I wait out on the stairs for the rest of the siblings. David and Kim came out, arms around each other and very coupley. Finally, Dylan came out; holding a cup of coffee and a paper bag no doubt filled with junk food. His hair was still wet but hopefully, from a shower and he's wearing all black and a pretty pissed off expression. David laughed and clapped his shoulder.

"Come on man, look alive."

"I am alive," Dylan replied snidely.

David shook his head and walked towards the driver's seat, keys in hand.

"Hey David," Amy called. "Can I drive?"

Even Dylan snapped out of his moodiness to stare panic-eyed at David.

I was horrified. I was a bad driver yeah but only in the sense where I couldn't drive over a certain speed. Amy well, speed wasn't the problem.

"Uhm, you sure you're up to it?" David asked carefully, holding the keys even tighter.

"Yes I am, I've been taking lessons and I've gotten good." Amy replied stubbornly.

Amy held out her hands determinately and David managed to toss her the keys, his expression helpless. I whimpered and Amy shot me a glare as we all slipped into the car.

"You doomed us all to the pits of hell," Dylan muttered to David.

"Bags the front seat!" I screamed and jumped in before anyone could protest.

"Why on earth do you get the front seat?" Dylan complained bitterly.

I spun around in my seat to face him.

"Because the people in front seat are less likely to die!" I hissed at him. "And since I'm the youngest, I deserve to live for longer!"

"Stop being such drama queens!" Amy exclaimed as she readjusted her seat. "No one's going to die."

"David…" Kim said uncertainly, sounding very nervous.

"Yeah Kim, you should be nervous." Dylan informed her before David could even open his mouth. "Lucky for you, you've never seen Amy drive. Let's face it; we might as well shoot ourselves now."

"Oh screw you Dylan." Amy snapped and pulled the car into gear.

"Please God, don't let us die." I mumbled softly.

Amy leant over and hit me.

"Ow!"

"There's no use praying Chey, not even the big man can save us from Amy's driving."

Amy yelled angrily as she pulled out with sudden force. The wheels of the car whammed forcibly onto the stone ledge and we were all thrown forward. Kim and I screamed like the girls we are.

"That's it, I'm getting out!" Dylan yelled, unbuckling his seat belt.

"Amy, I'm driving!" David announced firmly, opening the door.

"STOP!" Amy screamed and amazingly everyone did. "I can drive fine! Just don't PISS ME OFF!!!"

Uh-oh, she had that look in her eye. The same look she got when everyone thought she would fail her SAT's and get rejected from every colleague. The same look she got when our parents were determined that she would have to repeat year 11. The same look she got when everyone thought she would look bad as a brunette. It was the 'I'll show you look." Unfortunately, this look only scared me more. Why? Because she DID fail her SAT's and did get rejected from every colleague (the only reason she got in was because our dad had to build the new library) and she did look TERRIBLE as a brunette. Ok, so she didn't have to repeat year 11 but that's only because she had a private tutor 3 hours a day for five months and only just passed, narrowly.

"We're all going to die!" I moaned softly. Dylan and David were both forced to sit back in their seats.

"Oh my god," Kim murmured quietly and I felt very sorry for her. It's one thing to be killed by your sister but another to be killed by your not- yet- married- boyfriend's sister- who- actually- hates- you- and- makes- it- very -obvious.

Amy started up the engine again and the sound of the engine purring to life gave me shivers. The car bumped up and down and we got off the stone ledge and managed to pull out of the driveway. We were on the streets and it seemed that everything was going smoothly. Amy turned to us smugly at the first red light.

"See? I'm a great driver, told you so."

"Keep your eyes on the road!" David snapped, his face still drawn anxiously.

The lights turned green and Amy stuck her tongue out in the review mirror before stepping on the gas pedal. I squeezed my eyes shut, determined not to throw up despite my churning stomach.

"I feel sick," Kim complained, voicing my thoughts.

I didn't need to have my eyes open to know that Amy was throwing daggers at her. The screeching sound of the wheels as the driver turned the car abruptly.

"SLOW DOWN!" I cried, scrunching up my face tighter.

"Will you all stop being such _babies_?" Amy did a fast U-turn on the word babies and I couldn't help but let out another cry.

"See, we're here." Amy announced proudly, ignoring the angry hoots from everyone else she'd nearly crashed into while getting us here. "Now to find a parking space."

I was ready to throw myself out the car James Bond style.

"There's one!" Amy spotted an empty space across the street and without a care in the world, she spun the stirring wheel and we cut across two lanes (pissing off about a hundred drivers). It took her four tries to get into the spot as everyone else was forced to wait for her.

"God everyone is so impatient," Amy commented, backing up once again. Before the car had fully stopped, all doors (except the drivers) were thrown open and everyone jump out of the car. We all stood on the pavement; Kim was actually throwing up, David was trying to comfort her but his own face looked pretty green, Dylan was cursing with words even I had never heard before and I was on my knees, feeling like kissing the pavement. Amy finally managed to manoeuvre the car into the spot and now she was standing next to us, shaking her head.

"And they say I'm a drama queen," she said disgustedly, looking specifically at Kim.

"Crystelés?" A man decked head to toe in black greeted us formally. We all spun around except Kim who was still sick.

"You're parents are expecting you, this way please." He ushered us secretively down the street. Amy danced down the street way in front while the rest of us trailed behind her, still suffering severely from the ride. We were led to a simple little boutique that was similar to the one Karm had taken us to yesterday but not as exclusive clearly as there were others there.

"I drove over here!" Amy announced happily as she burst into the elegant room, startling the guests and causing the sales woman to purse her lips angrily.

"WHAT?" Mum and dad who were both being measured in the corner yelped unbelievingly; eyes widening in fear.

"It's ok, we're all still alive," David reassured them, his arm still supporting a pale faced Kim. "Barely…"

"You're all drama queens!" Amy screeched furiously which seemed to be the last straw for the sales lady.

"Excuse me!" She hissed softly, scurrying over to us. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave!"

Amy rolled her eyes and looked at her as if she was nothing but an annoying piece of dirt.

"Excuse me, but do you know who we are?" She scowled, rising to the challenge.

"You could be George Bush for all I care, you're disrupting the costumers and for that I must ask you to leave." The sales lady delivered this like a speech and smiled smugly after she was done. Amy simmered and looked ready to pounce before regaining her control and smiling with her queen bee status.

"Not a problem, we're just leaving." Amy turned to leave just as something shiny fluttered out of her bag and onto the floor. The sales women bent down automatically to pick it up and as she did, her jaw dropped and I swear her eyes filled with tears.

She stood up unsteadily, all her confidence gone and she suddenly looked so small. In her hands was the paper that Amy had dropped, I recognised it immediately; it was an invitation to the social.

"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't know…" the girl said staring at the floor. I could see the realisation hit her that she had just annoyed the Crysteles, the family throwing the social of the year. Amy smiled at her deviously and my heart soared for this poor sales women who ok, had been a bit of a cow but was only doing her job.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." I said stepping in front of Amy before anything else could be said. "No biggie, let's just get going with choosing outfits, if you don't mind."

The girl nodded quickly and escaped eagerly.

I turned, ready to face Amy but she had already moved on, scanning the racks for her dress.

"Still the queen bitch," David muttered, shaking his head annoyed.

"Dude, who cares?" Dylan queried cheerfully, surprisingly over his mood. "Let's find some clothes to wear."

"Sure," David replied heading after Dylan before doing a double take.

"Hey Chey, since you have an outfit for the social already, can you help Kim?"

"Really David…" Kim protested feebly while here eyes darted around the racks. This was a world unlike one she'd ever been in; she was used to shopping centres where the sales women couldn't care less. Now, people were everywhere, almost clinging onto the shoulders of their costumers, offering advice, measuring, exclaiming, nodding etc.

"Sure thing!" I interrupted her excitedly. Kim and David both smiled at me thankfully.

"So Kim, what exactly are you looking for?" I asked as we started to do a little walk around the shop.

"Uhm, maybe a dress?"

I gaped at her, unsure whether she was joking or not. But the hopeless expression on her face and the way she fiddled nervously said it all.

"A dress? Really? Never would have thought of that!" Amy snickered sarcastically from the corner. Kim blushed and her face fell further, she looked like she was going to be sick again. David wasn't here to tell Amy off so I shot her my best Karm-glare. At the moment, I was determined to help Kim find the perfect dress that would shut Amy up, prove to my parents that she was good enough for David, restore her confidence and while I was at it, I could work on knocking David for nine too.

"Come on Kim," I said firmly after Amy had left to try on a couple of dresses. "Let's find the perfect dress for you. We wondered around and I pointed out some prospect outfits but each time, Kim shook her head no; lips still pursed together nervously.

"Chey," Kim spoke up softly after she had objected my tenth suggestion. "Maybe I shouldn't go, this isn't my world."

I gasped.

"But Kim, you have to go! What would David say?"

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind," Kim said in a voice I barely recognised as hers. This could not be the loud, outspoken and opinionated girl I knew!

"Kim, you have to go!" I repeated. "We're going to find you a dress." I realised that for my plan to work I would have to be more forceful. I picked up a slim white number and a tiled purple dress, handed them to her and told her to try them on.

"Can't hurt," I pointed out as she protested. I thought I was going to have to throw her into a change room but luckily, she reluctantly trudged into one herself. I stood outside and waited.

"Uh Chey?" Kim's voice came from behind the door. "This change room is massive!"

I giggled; glad to hear her personality coming through again.

"Come out and show me!" I ordered.

"Yes mummy," Kim mimicked me and stepped out wearing the tiled purple dress.

"Aw, you look pretty!" I said, smiling at her. She smiled back but shook her head, some colour returning to her face.

"Nah, not the right one."

Kim retreated back into the dressing room and Amy quickly beckoned me over. I walked over to her, her face alight with excitement.

"Check it out Chey!" She exclaimed and threw open the door, revealing her outfit. She was covered in an off the shoulder yellow dress that seemed to illuminate the whole room, it was extremely short (half way up her thigh if not shorter). It was unlike her other dresses though, it didn't cling to her, in fact it did quite the opposite. It framed her body softly, coming down in waves that increased her height for the eyes. It was such a cute dress, one I expected to see on bubbly girls like Kiki but as I stared at Amy who was quite the opposite of bubbly, I realised that the dress suited her perfectly. The message came out clear as daylight, 'Sexy, single and ready to mingle.'

"What do ya think?" Amy said, doing a little twirl.

"Absolutely divine," my mother gushed gazing at her proudly.

"It's so cute," I replied smiling. "Good choice!"

Amy grinned at us blissfully and just when I thought she had become the fun, cheerful, sweet person the dress advertised, she reached into her change room and quite literally threw the pile of rejected dresses towards the middle of the room. That pile was probably worth tens of thousands and now it was just being thrown on the floor. Sales women ran to rescue the clothes while throwing poisonous looks at an oblivious Amy.

"Chey?" Kim's careful call brought me back in front of her change room. "I think this is the one!" Her nervous tone was tinted with excitement.

"Show me then!" I called back cautiously.

"Uhm, can you come in here? I want it to be a surprise for everyone else."

Her door opened by a fraction and I squeezed in. Kim shut the door so fast I nearly lost my arm.

"Whoa, is it that secr…. Oh my god!"

For a second, I thought I had walked into the wrong change room; into a models change room. There stood a girl wearing a white dress that was so daring but wow, did she pull it off. It was incredibly short, shorter than Pearl's or Amy's dress and at the same time, it couldn't have fitted anyone better. Her legs seemed as long as the Great Wall of China and her torso was just as long; she was slim, tall and extremely sexy.

"What do you think?" Kim asked the same question as Amy but the 'I know it's hot' snide was missing; instead she sounded genuinely curious and self conscious.

"I think…" I was lost for words. "I think that you should dump David. He's not good enough for you."

Well, excuse me! That was the first thing that entered my head, sad as that is. Kim's face broke into a relaxed smile and she giggled.

"I can't say I agree. So you like the dress?"

"Definitely!! It's absolutely perfect!"

I slipped out of the room as Kim changed, the huge smile still plastered all over my face.

"What are you smiling about?" Amy asked. She was paying for her dress and the sales women was folding it extremely carefully in tissue paper.

"Nothing." I replied, smiling even bigger still. Kim came out, possibly smiling even bigger than me. The dress was tucked under her arm delicately; from there it just looked like a plain white dress.

"Want me to pay for that Kim?" Amy said innocently.

Kim blinked, the smile dropping off her face slightly.

"No thanks Amy, I'll get it."

She fumbled for the price tag and my heart stoped. The price… neither of us had even thought of it.

"You sure about that?" Amy asked sweetly as Kim found the price tag and her mouth dropped open.

Luckily, at that very moment David and Dylan re entered the room.

"Hey babe, find something?" David asked, at Kim's side within seconds.

"Uhm, actually, I don't think I'll get this…" Kim's voice had gone back to the meek little voice she had upon entering the store.

"No, you're getting that dress." I said, surprising even myself at the power in my voice. Maybe because that's how I felt for once, Kim was getting that dress no matter what. David seemed to catch on immediately and he reddened.

"Here Chey." David tossed me his credit card and I reached over to get Kim's dress.

"No," she protested, turning away from me.

"Kim really, it's my stupid social, I'll pay." I insisted.

"You're not paying, David is. David we had this talk." Kim whispered weakly but still had that authority that all women have over their boyfriends.

"Too bad, so sad." Amy sung and I felt the need to slap her. "We can stop by at K-mart on the way home I guess."

David bristled immediately, his face alive with anger.

"Piss off Amy," I snapped angrily as Kim seemed to slouch, defeated. I quickly grabbed the dress out of her arms and sprinted to the counter. Kim was at my side just as fast.

"Chey, please no." She seemed to plead with me but I just couldn't let this happen.

I took her by both shoulders and stared her down.

"Kim, I know you think we're like buying you stuff and you feel guilty whatever. But you're going to this social as David's girlfriend; therefore, David has the responsibility to buy you

a dress.

"Really Kim, think about how David would feel if you wouldn't let him buy you a dress? That would be like destroying his man hood."

Kim seemed to be giving in slightly, her eyes darted to the dress desperately.

"Come on, my date brought me my dress." I lied, crossing my fingers under my coat.

She sighed and her head went up and down by millimetres, I took this as a yes.

I smiled triumphantly and swiped the credit card.

"Oh, David I don't know your pin!" I called.

Kim neatly reached over and typed in four numbers. The big green tick flashed across the screen and the sales lady handed over the bag.

"Wow that was so Hampton." I said in awe.

Kim laughed and went to slip her arm through David's, bag in other hand.

"Hey, can I drive?" Amy called.

Needless to say, she didn't get to drive.

"I'LL GET IT!!" I screamed, stampeding down the stairs. I flung open the door, nearly knocking over a surprised Chelsea.

"AGH!!" I screamed.

"AGHH!!!" Kale screamed back at me.

"I can't believe its tonight!" I screamed at her.

"Me either!!"

"Shut up!" Amy screamed from up stairs. I rolled my eyes. Hypocrite much? I mean, up until she moved out, I basically thought screaming was the normal level of chatter since that was how all her friends spoke.

"Come in." I ushered Kale in.

"This is unbelievable! When's everyone coming?" She asked, hanging up her coat.

"Soon!"

Right on cue, the door bell rung and there stood Kiki and Pearl. Obviously, another peal of screaming followed. Then Karm arrived last and there was only one quick scream because she didn't want to waste time. We were hard at work within seconds of Karm's arrival. James, Cruz and André arrived about an hour later and half an hour after them, some others turned up to help out too. By four, everything was pretty much set which was just in time as mum and dad got back at this time. All the others left leaving only the few of us main organisers behind. Kiki, Kale, Pearl and Karm were staying here, we were getting changed together.

"Oh my god!! Only three more hours!!" I squealed excitedly as we piled into my room. Kiki and Kale set to work on Pearls hair and I started to crimp Karm's hair.

"You have the nicest hair Karm, really." I said enviously as I gently spread mousse through her hair.

"No way, you're hair is so much nicer."

"As if."

I worked for half an hour on Karm's hair and then another half an hour on Kiki's hair.

Karm's hair lay crimped in small waves, her fringe falling across her face perfectly. With her dress, she honestly looked like a mermaid. Pearl had gone for the dead straight hair and it fell down past midway on her back in ruled lines. Her hair was almost longer than her dress! Kiki's hair had been delicately straightened up the top, near her roots and then braided from there down in an elegant French twist. She could totally play the part of an elegant princess or something.

Kale's hair had taken the longest; it had been straightened then covered in mousse and fluffed up. Since her dress was such a playful one her hair had to follow suit but Kale didn't want to be over the top. After many tries, her hair now had a big braid that stretched across the front of her hair but behind that, it was messy but organised at the same time.

I stared at myself in the mirror. My hair had been experiment with at least ten times, being straightened, curled, braided and pushed in thousands of different directions but finally it was right. It lay just past my shoulders in soft waves. Two braids pinned back were used to pull back the hair that covered my ears; leaving the dazzling chain of silver hanging from my ears fully exposed. The hair was done. The make up was done. The dressing was done. The nails were done. The jewellery was done. There was nothing else to do but walk down and prepare to welcome guests.

Just as we were about to leave, Amy and Kim snuck in.

"Hey guys, let's enter together! It'll be fun!" Amy exclaimed, looking stunning in her dress and simple but effective makeup. Kim looked just as amazing in her dress. Both were primped to the upmost.

We linked arms and started down the stairs. Amy, Kim and I went down in a line first followed by Karm, Kiki, Pearl and Kale. We were greeted by the rest of the family who gapped at us. As great as this reaction was, nothing thrilled me more than seeing the look on David's face as he took in his girlfriend. I loosened my arm around Kim's.

"Go get him!" I whispered enthusiastically, nudging her forward. Kim went to his side and they started making out, right in front of us.

"Ew, not right now!" I complained, covering my eyes.

"You all look wonderful!" My mother exclaimed. "Quickly, photos before everyone else arrives!"

Patricia, the photographer started snapping away. All of us, just the Diamonds, our family, individual shots, David and Kim, my siblings and my parents; we went through at least one film before the first limo pulled up.

STAY IN TOUCH FOR THE NEXT CHAPTERS….

THE SOCIAL!!


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